Hyundai Glovis is teaming up with a domestic energy company to target environmentally friendly business areas such as clean ammonia and hydrogen.
Hyundai Glovis announced on the 27th that it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with GS Energy for ‘hydrogen, ammonia and clean environmentally friendly energy business’. Earlier, at the signing ceremony held at Hyundai Glovis headquarters in Seongdong-gu, Seoul, officials from both companies, including Hyundai Glovis CEO Kyu-bok Lee and Vice President Kim Seong-won of GS Energy , present and announcing the start of collaboration.
Under the agreement, Hyundai Glovis will provide maritime transportation services for the ammonia and clean hydrogen projects promoted by the two companies, and GS Energy will be responsible for ammonia and hydrogen production and construction related import terminals.
In addition, the two companies agreed to cooperate for joint investment and development of demand for clean ammonia and hydrogen production.
Hyundai Glovis plans to tap into the environmentally friendly gas transportation market with its marine transportation capabilities. To this end, it has invested 200 billion won and is building two very large gas carriers (VLGC). The vessel is expected to enter the global maritime transport market after delivery in 2024 with a loading capacity of 86,000 cubic meters per vessel.
VLGC Hyundai Glovis has a cargo hold made of a special material, so it can transport not only LPG but also ammonia. Currently, around 20 VLGCs are known to be able to ship ammonia worldwide (less than 10% of the total VLGC fleet).
Hyundai Glovis pays attention to the transport of ammonia because it is presented as an alternative to the transport of liquefied hydrogen. In order to transport and store hydrogen, gaseous hydrogen must be converted into liquid. Gaseous hydrogen has a limited transport capacity, and liquefied hydrogen (hydrogen in a liquid state at a cryogenic temperature of minus 253 degrees Celsius) has a low storage density and has not yet been commercialized.
Ammonia has emerged as a realistic alternative. Combining nitrogen with hydrogen makes ammonia. It is a method of transporting this form of ammonia by sea and extracting hydrogen from ammonia at the port of call. Unlike liquid hydrogen, ammonia is relatively easily liquefied (at minus 33 degrees Celsius) and can store 1.7 times more hydrogen per unit volume, making it easy to transport in bulk.
Ammonia is currently mainly used for fertilizer and petrochemical purposes, and is transported by small and medium-sized gas carriers. When the era of large-scale ammonia transportation arrives in the future, Hyundai Glovis VLGC is expected to become a vessel optimized for maritime ammonia transportation.
Hyundai Glovis also stands out in the field of liquefied hydrogen maritime transport. It previously received basic certification, the first step in the development of a world-first large liquefied hydrogen carrier, from the Korean Register of Shipping and the Liberian Flag Bureau. This is the first instance of certification for a large hydrogen carrier obtained through a collaboration between a Korean shipping company and a shipbuilder.
In addition, Hyundai Glovis and GS Energy plan to promote liquefied carbon dioxide and use battery-related businesses together.
For information, in November last year, the two companies signed an agreement with GS Caltex and Korea East-West Power for CCUS (Carbon Capture, Utilization, Storage) business cooperation.
An official from Hyundai Glovis said, “We intend to play an important role as a global shipping company in the era of energy transition. We will demonstrate our global competitiveness in the environmentally friendly business field by collaborating with GS Energy.”
