The delivery of the first of Maersk Tankers’ 10 very large ammonia carriers, alongside the decision to bring technical management back in-house, suggests the company is preparing for an ammonia business that will require a different level of technical expertise.
Maersk Tankers has taken delivery of Jane Mærsk, the first of 10 very large ammonia carriers (VLACs) being built by HD Hyundai Samho in South Korea.
At 93,000 cubic metres, the vessel is designed to transport both liquefied ammonia and LPG. The remaining nine vessels are scheduled for delivery by September 2028, creating one of the largest new fleets of ammonia-capable gas carriers in the market.
The size of the investment is significant, but perhaps more revealing is how Maersk Tankers is preparing to operate the ships.
Having outsourced its technical management business to Synergy Group in 2021, in 2025, Maersk Tankers announced it would bring technical management back in-house ahead of the VLAC deliveries and this process is expected to be completed this year. The rationale was that the technical expertise needed to be more closely aligned to its commercial business and that in-house management was critical to delivering the service customers require for new technologies such as ammonia.
This decision suggests that Maersk Tankers sees the move into ammonia not simply as an expansion of its gas-carrier business but has recognised that investment in technical capability is also required.
An ammonia fleet with an LPG hedge
The Maersk VLACs are not dependent on the ammonia market alone, however, as the Jane Mærsk can transport liquefied ammonia or LPG, giving the company an element of commercial flexibility as the ammonia market develops.
Maersk’s move provides an insight into the development of the low carbon ammonia market. In early 2026, 6.5 million tonnes of low emission ammonia was already in production, while the project pipeline suggests that around 40 million tonnes could be operational by 2030.
While there are already signs that large new production projects are beginning to create additional sources of low carbon ammonia: India’s AM Green project is developing around one million tonnes per year of green ammonia capacity. However, other projects remain less certain. This week, Woodside said it had successfully started operation at its Beaumont plant; however, it also stated it was reviewing the project amid unclear demand for lower-carbon ammonia, and in June, Air Products terminated its Louisiana Clean Energy Complex, a major low-carbon ammonia project, citing financial viability concerns.
The message is therefore mixed: production capacity is being developed, but announced capacity should not be confused with contracted, financed and delivered supply. The ongoing uncertainty in the ammonia market makes the ammonia-LPG dual-cargo capability of the Maersk fleet commercially significant. The ability to carry LPG provides a degree of protection should the ammonia market not develop as quickly as expected.
Strategic capabilities move in-house
The decision to bring Maersk Tanker’s technical management back in-house is particularly interesting.
The company has not said that the move is specifically a response to safety concerns, but Tina Revsbech, CEO, Maersk Tankers said ‘providing in-house technical management is critical to deliver the service our customers require for new technologies such as dual-fuel ammonia’.
The risks of transporting ammonia are not new. The global ammonia trade has been served by dedicated carriers for decades and an MCI review of reported incidents over the past 20 years (to 2023) was unable to identify any incidents relating to ammonia carriers.[1]
That makes Maersk Tankers‘ decision interesting as it suggests that it sees the scale, complexity and future growth of the ammonia business as sufficient to need greater control of the technical capability.
The decision, however, raises an interesting question: does the emergence of ammonia as a major cargo and potential marine fuel make technical management a more strategically important and, therefore, a commercially advantageous part of a shipowner’s business? Clearly, Maersk does.
Maersk Tankers’ strategic move into the low-carbon ammonia transport market involves more than investing in ten new ships. It signals how the company expects the ammonia market to develop and the organisational capabilities it believes are needed to operate safely and commercially. More broadly, it shows the energy transition is changing not only the design of ships, but also how shipping companies organise themselves to operate them.
