Representatives from maritime and energy organisations convened in Sydney in October with the aim of accelerating the development of a green corridor for the transportation of iron ore between Australia and East Asia (the Australia-East Asia Iron Ore Green Corridor) and identifying key actions to fuel the clean shipping of iron ore by matching emerging clean ammonia supply with industry demand.
Net-zero-emission shipping solutions
In June 2022, 13 members of the Getting to Zero Coalition and Australian shipping and energy stakeholders formed a task force, convened and chaired by the Global Maritime Forum, to support the development of the Australia-East Asia Iron Ore Green Corridor.
Maritime green corridors are routes on which the development and deployment of net-zero-emission shipping solutions [such as clean ammonia as a shipping fuel] are enabled by private and public actions.
Australia-East Asia Iron Ore Green Corridor
The group came together for an in-person roundtable in Sydney to launch a dialogue
As a part of the task force’s objective to accelerate the development of the Australia-East Asia Iron Ore Green Corridor, the group came together for an in-person roundtable in Sydney to launch a dialogue between future fuel suppliers, ship owners, cargo owners, and investors, and identify and agree upon industry action areas that should be prioritised to match clean ammonia supply with demand.
Hosted in association with Maritime Industry Australia Ltd (MIAL)’s Maritime Decarbonisation Summit, the roundtable also welcomed local stakeholders from clean energy finance, research, and consultancy sectors.
Roundtable participants
The roundtable participants included resource companies (BHP and Rio Tinto), shipping companies (Cargill, NYK Line, Oldendorff Carriers, and Star Bulk), future fuel suppliers (Fortescue Future Industries, InterContinental Energy, Woodside Energy, and Yara Clean Ammonia).
Other important stakeholders (AMOG Consulting, Bureau Veritas, ClassNK, the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, Maritime Industry Australia Ltd, Scaling Green Hydrogen Cooperative Research Centre Bid, and Pilbara Ports Authority).
Clean ammonia supply
The participants discussed challenges to the industry actions, including issues like cross-sector competition
Several industry action areas were highlighted by Roundtable participants as key for matching clean ammonia supply with demand, including evaluating and quantifying fuel demand and supply, ensuring the safe handling of ammonia, and coordinating investments across the value chain.
The participants also discussed challenges to the industry actions, including issues like cross-sector competition for clean fuels, the need for government support, and public acceptance of ammonia as a fuel.
Assessment of clean ammonia fuel
As a pathway towards establishing the Australia-East Asia Iron Ore Green Corridor, the immediate next steps include the finalisation of the ongoing assessment of clean ammonia fuel demand and supply.
This will include assessing the success factors for the Corridor’s development including fuel production, bunkering, potential commercial structures, and high-level regulatory and certification requirements and their associated timeframes. The assessment, scheduled for publishing in early 2023, will be undertaken by a consortium led by the Global Maritime Forum in collaboration with BHP, Rio Tinto, Oldendorff Carriers, and Star Bulk.
Strategic engagement
There is significant and concrete interest in establishing the Australia-East Asia Iron Ore Green Corridor"
In the longer term, strategic engagement with public and private sector actors in East Asia, including China, Japan, and South Korea, will be critical as the counterpart to the work being undertaken by industry participants in Australia.
Global Maritime Forum’s Senior Program Lead on Decarbonization, and chair of the Roundtable, Marieke Beckmann, highlighted the need for public-private dialogue to accelerate the Corridor’s development, “There is significant and concrete interest in establishing the Australia-East Asia Iron Ore Green Corridor from the industry."
Industry alignment
"Coordination between the maritime and energy sectors is critical to overcome challenges and scale impact."
"Industry alignment is also important to enable strategic collaboration with the public sector, which could be the main difference-makers going to support first movers in bridging the cost gap for zero-emission fuels,” Marieke said.
