2 November 2023 (Lloyd's List) - AMMONIA producer Yara Clean Ammonia and North Sea Container Line formed a joint venture to long-term charter an ammonia-fuelled containership newbuilding, for service between Norway and Germany. 

Yara and North Sea Container Line are understood to be in talks with a number of potential shipowners for the time charter contract, with delivery of the 1,300 teu vessel due in 2026. 

The joint venture, to be named NCL Oslofjord, has secured Nkr40m ($3.58m) from the Norwegian government’s Enova Fund for the project.

Bente Hetland, North Sea Container Line’s chief executive, told Lloyd’s List that the open-top type containership will be chartered for 15 years, but would not name shipowners involved in discussions to own and manage the ship.

The vessel will operate between Oslo, Brevik, Hamburg and Bremerhaven with the base cargo, said to represent 40% of the vessel’s capacity, being bagged fertiliser from Yara, Hetland added.

Last year, North Sea Container Line entered in to an agreement with MPC Container Ships to long-term charter a pair of 1,300 teu dual-fuel methanol containerships, which were ordered from Chinese shipbuilder Taizhou Sanfu.

The artists rendering of the NCL Oslofjord vessel, to be named Yara Eyde, appears to be of almost identical design to the MPCC newbuildings, set for delivery in 2024.

Apart from a handful of “ammonia-ready” newbuilding orders no firm contracts have been confirmed for dual-fuel ammonia containerships, while numerous “ammonia-ready” vessels have been confirmed by the bulk carrier, gas and vehicle carrier sectors in recent months. The first ammonia-capable marine engines are not expected to be available until at least 2025.