Page 40: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (February 2024)

Images Seaspan Corporation/Foreship

With plans to have a full-scale test engine running on am- age it'll be similar to LNG.” Looking at the engine makers and monia in early 2024, the company said it expects to hold its de- their progress, Brindley is diplomatic in saying that there is no livery timeline for the ? rst ammonia engine, with subsequent clear front-runner for the ammonia engine, but admitted “we operation onboard a commercial vessel from around 2026. are working closely with all major engine designers.”

The Ammonia-Fueled Containership Design The Future is Now

The challenge to supplant diesel as the prime fuel for ship- While many eyes are on the future, shipping companies to- ping was never expected to be fast, easy or cheap. When focus- day must balance planning for an uncertain fuel future with ing on ammonia speci? cally, it – like many other alternative the reality of maximizing ef? ciencies on the current ? eet. “We fuels – suffer from a lack of power density, meaning fuel tanks have two main divisions; one is maritime technology, which must be larger, eating into a ship’s revenue generating space. is looking at future technology,” said Brindley. “We need to “In terms of weight, you need about 2.2 times more ammo- make sure we're ready for the future, but we also have our ? eet nia than HFO,” said Brindley. “That’s just the weight. When engineering team, which looks at the here and now, making you consider energy density, you need about three times the sure the vessels are as ef? cient as possible. We need to catch quantity of ammonia for an equivalent energy of HFO. So the that low-hanging fruit right now and make sure the vessels tanks are much bigger.” are operating as ef? ciently as possible, so we can keep getting

Foreship’s Räsänen, concurs, but adds “more speci? cally good CII ratings into the future. And then we can switch over with ammonia, I would say it's the safety and the safety bar- to alternative fuels. Once we do switch over onto alternative riers, remembering that ammonia is toxic. Safety and safe de- fuels, we're still going to be really focused on the energy ef? - sign are key.” ciency of the design, because it's a much more expensive fuel.”

From the Foreship perspective, the eye on safety when con- For Brindley and the entire team working on the 15,000 sidering ammonia stretches to the shipyard building the ship, TEU ammonia fueled containership project, there is not a ? rm right down to the local surveyors that will interact with the timeline to reasonably expect this design to be completed and/ ship daily. or hit the water.

Ultimately, like any other business, cost is a top-agenda “We want to make sure that we develop a design that's go- driver. Regardless of type, fuel prices will ? uctuate by supply ing to work and that's going to be safe,” said Brindley. “The and demand as well as geopolitical factors. But for Brindley, main reason we did this design is to show that it is possible to he ? nds it dif? cult to pinpoint just how much more expensive have an ammonia fuel containership design, and potentially an ammonia fueled ship will be premised on one factor. to build it. We're still not quite there for the engine. We still “We don't have an engine yet, so there are things that are need shore infrastructure, we still need ammonia availability, going to have to be put in place before we can start putting a but we want to, as a ship owner, to say to the world that we are ? rm dollar sign on the cost. But in terms of the CapEx, I envis- ready, and we're moving in this direction." 40 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • February 2024

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