World’s 1st Operational Ammonia Bunkering Vessel Enters Service，Backed by CMB.TECH

(Xinde Marine News) The conversion of Shenghang Yongle marks the first time an operating vessel has been classed for ship-to-ship liquid ammonia fuel bunkering. The breakthrough also highlights the increasingly important role of CMB.TECH, which is simultaneously building an ammonia-powered fleet, securing Chinese green ammonia supply and participating in another pioneering bunkering project with ITOCHU and MOL in Singapore.

The global race to establish an ammonia marine fuel supply chain has reached a significant new milestone in China.

Shenghang Yongle, operated by Jiangsu Andefu Energy Development Co., Ltd., has completed a conversion enabling ship-to-ship, or STS, liquid ammonia fuel bunkering, becoming the world’s first operational vessel equipped with such capability. At the same time, the vessel has received the first ammonia bunkering class certificate issued by China Classification Society, or CCS. The milestone moves ammonia bunkering beyond conceptual studies, approval-in-principle projects and newbuilding plans into an existing commercial vessel that has been physically converted and classed for the task.

The wording of that “world first” is important. Shenghang Yongle is an existing operating ammonia carrier converted to perform fuel bunkering. It has not yet completed what could be described as the world’s first commercial STS ammonia fuel transfer, with commissioning, safety drills and actual vessel-to-vessel bunkering operations still to follow. Nevertheless, the vessel now provides something the global ammonia-fuel market has so far lacked: an operational shipping asset that has gone through the technical conversion, class review and onboard verification required to function as an ammonia bunker vessel.

That distinction also helps clarify the relationship between the Chinese project and another closely watched initiative led by Japan’s ITOCHU Corporation. ITOCHU ordered a 5,000-m³ ammonia bunkering vessel from Sasaki Shipbuilding in 2025 and describes that project as the world’s first newbuilding ammonia bunkering vessel. The Singapore-flagged vessel is scheduled for delivery in September 2027, with ammonia bunkering demonstrations planned in Singapore afterwards. In other words, the two projects represent different firsts: Shenghang Yongle is the first operational vessel converted and classed for STS liquid ammonia bunkering, while ITOCHU is developing the first purpose-built newbuilding ammonia bunker vessel. (伊藤忠商事)

This distinction matters because it reveals two different pathways through which ammonia bunkering infrastructure may develop. One is to design and build dedicated bunker vessels from scratch, as ITOCHU is doing in Singapore. The other is to convert suitable existing ammonia carriers that already possess much of the cryogenic and cargo-handling infrastructure required for ammonia transportation. The Shenghang Yongle project suggests that the second route could provide the industry with a faster way to bridge the infrastructure gap as ammonia-fuelled ships begin entering service.

From ammonia carrier to bunker vessel

Shenghang Yongle is a 5,546.80-m³ semi-refrigerated, semi-pressurised liquefied gas carrier with a deadweight of 4,626 tonnes. Built by China Merchants Jinling Dingheng Shipbuilding, the Chinese-flagged vessel is managed by Shenghang Shipping and is designed for unrestricted navigation and both domestic and international trading.

The ship can transport liquid ammonia, LPG and vinyl chloride monomer, or VCM. Its cargo tanks have a minimum design temperature of minus 48 degrees Celsius, while the vessel is also equipped with a low-temperature reliquefaction system. Those characteristics gave the ship a substantial technical head start for conversion: it already possessed tanks, piping, cargo-handling equipment and low-temperature systems designed around ammonia and other liquefied gases.

The conversion therefore involved more than simply adding another cargo transfer connection. Marine fuel bunkering introduces a different operational relationship between two vessels and requires dedicated procedures and safeguards covering transfer rates, emergency shutdown, leak detection, hazardous zones, personnel protection and emergency response.

Andefu, as the vessel’s operator, led the bunkering-system adaptation, preparation of operating procedures, risk assessments and emergency-response arrangements. Together with CCS, the company carried out multiple rounds of drawing review, onboard surveys and safety verification addressing issues including ammonia toxicity, material compatibility, low-temperature operation, leak detection and STS bunkering risk control.

This is one reason the project could prove relevant beyond a single vessel. There is already a global fleet of small and medium-sized ammonia and LPG carriers with technical characteristics that could potentially make some of them candidates for bunkering conversion. If the Shenghang Yongle model proves commercially and operationally successful, conversion could become one route for expanding ammonia bunkering capacity without waiting several years for an entirely new dedicated bunker fleet to be constructed.

CMB.TECH is becoming a key part of the story

The Shenghang Yongle project is also closely connected with one of the shipping industry’s most aggressive adopters of ammonia propulsion: CMB.TECH.

In December 2025, Antwerp-headquartered CMB.TECH announced an investment in the Chinese ammonia supply chain, including a minority interest in Andefu and an offtake agreement for renewable ammonia produced by China Energy Engineering Corporation’s CEEC Songyuan project in Jilin Province. CMB.TECH said the partnership was intended to create an integrated supply chain capable of delivering green ammonia to its growing fleet of ammonia-powered ships. READ MORE