“Green Ammonia Will Be Cheaper Than Fossil Fuels Eventually”, says Yara

Yara is engaged along the entire value chain, from production through midstream supply and development of bunkering solutions, to make sure the supply is ready to meet the demand. Many transport and container shipping firms are already making plans to shift to it as a viable carbon-neutral alternative as there is a growing recognition that shipping is a major carbon emitter which needs to transition rapidly. Yara are also a founding member of First Movers Coalition, committed to both drive demand for clean tech and supply the market with clean ammonia.
What’s Yara’s proposal to the maritime industry, when it comes to its decarbonization?
Yara Clean Ammonia (YCA) will make clean Ammonia available as future fuel, and will gradually scale up the production to 2 MT in 2030. Further YCA is building a bunkering network, first in Scandinavia but we have a global perspective with the existing end-to-end value chain.
Why have you picked this particular solution over others?
Clean Ammonia has a favorable energy density compared to other alternative fuels and the infrastructure is already in place. Today there are around 130 ports with Ammonia infrastructure and it is traded globally as a cargo.
With many industry members pulling towards different directions, when it comes to the selection of an optimal decarbonization solution for shipping, both now and for 2050, are you optimistic that this process will be successful, without “breaking the bank”?
Today the price for green ammonia is based on the Capex investment. Going forward it will decrease. In the future electrolyzers will become more efficient which again will reduce the Opex cost. Given carbon taxes and other regulatory drivers, green ammonia will at some stage have lower cost than fossil fuels.
So far in your experience as a founding member of First Movers Coalition, what’s the overall approach from shipowners? Do they feel they should take initiative, or are they adopting a “wait-and-see” approach for the most part?
We see that the whole industry wants to decarbonize and it is not only driven by regulations. Progressive cargo owners take lead in order to achieve zero emissions transport.
Nikos Roussanoglou, Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide