Penningtons Manches Cooper advises Marine Service Noord on contract for groundbreaking ammonia marine fuel supply system

Posted: 21/02/2025

Penningtons Manches Cooper’s shipping group has acted for Marine Service Noord (MSN), a maritime systems engineering company, on its contract with Fortescue, an Australian mining and green energy company operating globally, for the design, build, and delivery of the world’s first class-approved ammonia fuel and bunker system.

This project marks a significant step forward in the move towards a decarbonised shipping sector with green ammonia fast emerging as a bulk marine fuel, and as an alternative to traditional marine gas oil. From a sustainability perspective, it offers numerous advantages, namely in that ammonia (NH3), does not contain carbon – meaning that burning it in an engine or using it in a fuel cell does not produce CO2, enabling ships to reduce or even eliminate their CO2 emissions. 

Ammonia is currently available in 200 ports worldwide, and other advantages of the zero-carbon fuel include helping to maintain compliance with the EEDI (Energy Efficiency Design Index), and its cost-effectiveness for shipyards and shipping companies. Although there are currently limits to the extent to which ammonia-fuelled ships can operate, there have increasingly been calls for regulatory change, including from Fortescue founder, Andrew Forrest. As it stands, the industry, if it were a country, would be ranked as the sixth-largest polluter in the world – the use of ammonia fuel, it is argued, could be one method via which the sector achieves much-needed decarbonisation. 

MSN, founded in 1988 and based in the Netherlands, is an expert in the design and construction of maritime mechanical systems, including mechanical installations for engine rooms and cargo handling systems. It has a particular focus on the design and construction of mechanical systems for the use of cleaner alternative fuels such as liquified natural gas (LNG), methanol, and hydrogen. The ammonia fuel gas supply system designed by MSN for Fortescue, which possesses a significant fleet of vessels, is the first ammonia marine fuel supply system in operation. 

The trial vessel on which the system has been fitted, the FFI GREEN PIONEER, arrived in Dubai during the COP 28 conference as a demonstration of how the ammonia fuel system works in practice. The proof-of-concept vessel currently possesses two engines that run on a blend of ammonia and diesel, and has been designed with the ultimate goal of performing a world-first ammonia transfer, and then reaching final flag and class approval, enabling it to operate its dual-fuel engines on the water. 

Penningtons Manches Cooper’s specialist team for this project was led by Grant Eldred and Lisa Hillary. Grant is a partner in the banking and finance team, with specific expertise in ship, yacht and structured finance work. Lisa is a partner in the firm’s shipping team, with extensive experience in multi-jurisdictional international trade and shipping disputes. She advises in relation to ship sale and purchase contracts, COAs, multi-party vessel sharing agreements, charterparties and bills of lading.

Both are members of the firm’s shipping sector group, which offers multi-jurisdictional expertise to the international maritime community, and handles issues ranging from maritime casualties, cargo claims, and major losses, to marine insurance matters and high-profile commercial disputes arising from shipping contracts, as well as pollution and marine personal injury.

Grant Eldred comments: “This has been a challenging but rewarding project to advise on. MSN has been hard at work engineering the best solutions to the shipping industry’s need for alternative fuel sources. Ammonia fuel could have a major impact on the sustainability efforts of the sector as a whole, and so we are delighted to have assisted on such a groundbreaking scheme.”

Lisa Hillary comments: “It has been a privilege to support and assist MSN in this ground- breaking venture. It is testament to the hard work of the MSN team who, in collaboration with FFI and other industry partners, have pioneered a system with the potential to revolutionise the future of sustainable energy industry wide.”

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