Green ammonia was bunkered to an ammonia-powered bulk carrier at Port Hedland for the first time on 2 November, and OOCL took bio-methanol at Yantian in the same week1, 3. The two operations show green fuel reaching new ports. They do not show that it is widely available.
Mineral Europa is a 300-metre bulk carrier on charter to Fortescue. It took certified green ammonia from a bunker vessel before entering Port Hedland to load iron ore for customers in China, Pilbara Ports said1. The transfer took two hours and was confirmed at 8.42am AWST on Monday 2 November1. Pilbara Ports called it a trial, and neither the port nor Fortescue published the volume lifted or the price paid1.
At Yantian, OOCL put 983 mt of bio-methanol into the container ship OOCL Grace on 29 October, its first bio-methanol bunkering at the Chinese port. Sinobunker's bunker vessel Daqing 268 delivered the fuel, which was made at CIMC Green Energy Technology's plant in Zhanjiang3.
Two firsts, both small
The Hedland operation was not Mineral Europa's first green ammonia stem. On 13 October the gas carrier Shenghang Yongle, converted into a bunker vessel, supplied 1,000 tonnes of green ammonia to the same ship at the Zhoushan anchorage in China5. Jiangsu Andefu Energy Development, which led the conversion, described that as the world's first commercial ship-to-ship green ammonia bunkering5.
Lloyd's Register's Fuel for Thought: Ports report, released on 2 November, counted only one port where commercial ammonia bunkering had been recorded: Ulsan in South Korea, in April 20262, 6. It found methanol available at 25 ports and LNG at 2222. Most ports pursuing ammonia remain at pilot, trial or safety-framework stage, the report said6.
That is the frame for the Hedland announcement. Pilbara Ports is exploring a clean fuel bunkering hub in the Pilbara, and said insights from the trial will inform the next phase1. Fortescue chief executive Dino Otranto said the trial was a step towards "bunkering Fortescue's vessels with ammonia we produce here in Australia"1. The release did not name the fuel supplier or the certification standard behind the word "certified"1.
Biofuels are the exception. LR's advisory service recorded drop-in biofuel deliveries at 90 ports over 12 months. The 13 leading ports accounted for 77.5% of the quantities, and Singapore alone for more than a quarter2, 6.
Where supply is real, volumes are small
Rotterdam's bunker suppliers sold 154,000 mt of bio-bunker fuel in the third quarter. Of that, 4,200 mt was bio-methanol7.
Singapore has issued five-year methanol bunker licences to PetroChina, Golden Island and Global Energy Trading, effective since January. The port authority reported no methanol bunker sales in September, a seventh consecutive month without any8.
China is ahead on activity. Methanol bunkering has taken place at Shanghai, Ningbo-Zhoushan, Guangzhou, Qingdao, Dalian and Shenzhen, with CIMC Enric, SIPG Energy and China Marine Bunker among the suppliers8. CIMC Enric said it plans to work with Sinobunker to deliver large quantities of bio-methanol in the Greater Bay Area3.
Santos moved from trial to routine. Regular bioethanol bunkering began there with the CMA CGM IRON on 19 October, with Copersucar supplying, Bunker One running the barge operation and AGEO Terminais storing the fuel9. More CMA CGM vessels are due to bunker bioethanol at Santos by the end of the year9.
On the transpacific, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are still at the study stage. Their joint assessment recommends methanol pilot projects and a request for proposals on alternative fuel bunkering before the end of the year10.
The orderbook is well ahead of the ports
LR counted 1,942 alternative-fuel-capable vessels on order in January 2026, equal to 47% of global orderbook tonnage. Owners had ordered 385 methanol-capable and 45 ammonia-capable ships2, 6.
DNV's Alternative Fuels Insight recorded 53 alternative-fuel orders in October and 364 in the first ten months of 2026, 57% more than a year earlier. LNG took 230 of those orders, about 63% of the total, and four were ammonia-fuelled car carriers4.
More ammonia tonnage is coming to dry bulk. MOL named three ammonia-fuelled capesizes on 29 October with CMB.TECH, for delivery from early 2027, each with two 3,000 m3 ammonia tanks11. Fortescue charters nine other CMB.TECH vessels that can be converted to run on ammonia1.
Kamran Ul Haq is senior vice president of LR Ports Advisory. He said: "An owner can order an alternative-fuel vessel today, but that does not mean the fuel will be available where that ship needs it"2.
What the premium looks like
Neither company published a price for the fuel, and there is no public benchmark for green ammonia or bio-methanol bunkers in the price assessments reviewed here1, 3.
Where low-carbon fuel is priced openly, the premium is visible. Rotterdam's B30-VLSFO, a 30% biofuel blend, traded $96/mt above conventional VLSFO in the week to 1 November12. Singapore's LNG bunker price was $1,939/mt and Rotterdam's $1,873/mt in the same week, while Rotterdam's liquefied biomethane reached $2,575/mt13. Singapore VLSFO was above $1,000/mt14.
Who carried the extra cost at Hedland is also unclear from published statements. Fortescue charters the ship and its iron ore is the cargo, and the chief executive framed the fuel as the company's own future production1. None of the parties has published a green-fuel surcharge line for ammonia or bio-methanol.