Hamburg gets first terminal for green ammonia

The first German port terminal for the import of green ammonia as a basis for hydrogen is to be built in Hamburg. It will go into operation from 2026 and will be available for the import of green ammonia from Saudi Arabia, said Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) and Hamburg's Mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD) on Thursday together with the companies involved, Air Products and Mabanaft Hamburg with.

The ammonia, which could be used as a fuel, is manufactured in Saudi Arabia by industrial gas producer Air Products. The delivery of customers in Germany should then also be in his hands.

The investments for the construction of the terminal at the Oiltanking tank farm at Blumensand in the Port of Hamburg were initially estimated at 500 million euros, but are later to be doubled to around one billion euros. An ammonia storage facility with a capacity of 55,000 tons is to be built for the terminal, which is to be filled by imports.

When the plant is ramped up, around 100,000 tons of hydrogen are to be produced there per year. Since the plant is to be expanded on a large scale, according to the company, 30,000 trucks or five percent of heavy goods traffic in Germany could ultimately be supplied with hydrogen.

Ammonia is considered an option to make it possible to transport hydrogen produced abroad to Germany. Hydrogen produced with solar or wind power can be converted to ammonia with the help of nitrogen and liquefied under pressure - similar to natural gas. This makes it easier to ship larger quantities. However, the ammonia has to be broken down again at the destination using green energy in order to obtain pure hydrogen. This procedure is currently considered to be immature.

Green hydrogen is set to play a key role in industry, ship and air transport in the fight against climate change.