Navigare Logistics and Mosvolds Rederi are teaming up to order a series of zero-emission bulkers due on the water from 2024.
Along with Amon Maritime — Mosvold's decarbonisation operation — the two shipowners have formed a new company to operate the vessels, which will use green ammonia as fuel.
The new venture is called Viridis Bulk Carriers, and the parties said talks have begun with leading shipyards to deliver two 5,000-dwt shortsea vessels in 2024 and another three in 2025.
The "game-changing" Flexbulk ships, designed with Norway's Kongsberg, are expected to be ordered in 2022, putting Viridis at the forefront of zero-emission shipping.
Karl Arthur Braein, Amon Maritime's co-founder and chief commercial officer, told TradeWinds that the companies first came together to tender their vessel design for Norway's Green Bulk Project but did not succeed on that occasion.
"Our range of more than 3,000 nautical miles was way over their technical demand," he said.
"But we thought our design was interesting to the market and decided to go ahead regardless."
Braein admitted there are still technologies to be developed before the vessels can be delivered, but he said Viridis is working hard on bringing the design to the market.
He confirmed Viridis will operate the bulkers.
"We are creating a shipowning company not selling a design," Braein said.
The company hopes to be one of the first to operate zero-emission ships.
Green fuel coming
Braein said there are many different projects underway in Norway, Denmark and elsewhere to deliver green ammonia as a fuel.
And Viridis has received pre-project support from Norway's Green Platform 1 grant programme.
The company is planning a range of different vessel configurations to meet the needs of charterers.
These include gearless and geared, self-discharging, aquafeeder and project cargo vessels.
The idea is to replace ageing bulkers with the new carbon-free units.
Viridis believes there is a growing demand for newbuildings as the European fleet gets older.
Much-needed renewal
"With an average age of close to 30 years, the European shortsea shipping fleet is on the verge of a much-needed renewal process," Jan Sigurd Vigmostad, chief investment officer at Norway's Mosvolds and parent company Glastad Holding, said.
"Our strategy is to meet the demand by replacing the aged fleet with zero-emission ships. We are skipping gradual emission reductions and going straight for a long-term, sustainable solution."
The company wants "forward-thinking bulk charterers", who are serious about lowering their carbon footprints, to join the project.
Carbon-free bulk network
Espen Nordstrom, managing director at Navigare Logistics, which is based in the Faroe Islands, said: "In the FlexBulk project, we will build a carbon-free bulk logistics network through a set of freight agreements with select clients, served by a new fleet of innovative, ammonia-powered vessels.
Andre Risholm, chief executive at Amon Maritime, said: "Utilising ammonia as a carbon-free fuel allows us to develop cost-efficient and robust ships with sufficient operational range to allow for trading flexibility.
"We believe a large-scale green transition in shipping will only happen if the ships of tomorrow are as capable, or more capable, as the ships of today."
