Ulsan City Selected as Candidate for 'Ammonia Bunkering Regulation-Free Zone'

Expectations Rise for Becoming a Global Ammonia Bunkering Industry Hub City

All-Out Efforts Mobilized to Secure Final Designation in the First Half of Next Year

Ulsan City has been selected as a candidate for the “Ammonia Bunkering Regulation-Free Zone” in the contest for “Regulation-Free Zone Candidate Areas” hosted by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, raising expectations for Ulsan to become a global hub for the ammonia bunkering industry.

The candidate zone system is a preliminary program that selects promising projects with high potential for development into innovative industry-academia cooperation clusters ahead of the Regulation-Free Zone contest scheduled for the first half of next year by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. It provides expert consulting and planning funds to support the application process.

With this selection, Ulsan City will promote two demonstration projects: Truck to Ship (TTS) bunkering and Ship to Ship (STS) bunkering as part of the Ammonia Bunkering Regulation-Free Zone Candidate Area.

TTS bunkering refers to charging ammonia from land to ships, and the demonstration will verify technology that connects and charges multiple tank lorries simultaneously.

STS bunkering will demonstrate the process of transferring ammonia between ships at sea, thereby establishing a fuel supply system for large ammonia-powered vessels.

If the demonstration projects are successfully completed, Ulsan will secure ammonia fuel supply technology and verify the safety and economic feasibility of ammonia fuel. Through this, related companies are expected to strengthen their competitiveness in new technologies and secure technological leadership, enabling them to preempt the global market.

To be finally designated as a Regulation-Free Zone in the first half of next year, Ulsan City plans to mobilize all local human and material infrastructure, centering on the Task Force for project planning, Ulsan Technopark as the main planning agency, local research institutes, anchor companies, and the Ulsan Free Economic Zone Authority.

In particular, Ulsan plans to highlight its strengths in the shipbuilding industry, which accounts for 55% of the global ammonia carrier market share, and the optimal conditions for demonstration, including the planned construction of an ammonia terminal by 2030.

Ulsan City will also emphasize the necessity of designation by highlighting the difficulties in commercialization due to the lack of demonstration cases and institutional foundations for ammonia bunkering on actual ships, despite having excellent infrastructure in the chemical industry, which distributes the largest amount of ammonia in Asia, and the ability to proactively respond to changes in the international energy market.

In addition, Ulsan will recruit candidate zone business operators, hold task force meetings, and seek expert consulting to further specify the project plan. Together with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, Ulsan will proceed with the necessary procedures for designation as a Regulation-Free Zone, including consultations with relevant regulatory ministries, subcommittees, deliberation committees, and the Regulation-Free Zone Committee.

If Ulsan City is finally designated as the Ammonia Bunkering Regulation-Free Zone, it is expected to become the first city in the world to establish a demonstration system and institutional foundation for the commercialization of the medium- and large-scale ammonia-powered vessel bunkering industry.

An Ulsan City official said, “With this selection as a Regulation-Free Zone candidate, Ulsan is one step closer to developing and commercializing the world’s first medium- and large-scale ammonia bunkering technology. We will mobilize all regional capabilities to ensure we are designated as a Regulation-Free Zone.”

The Regulation-Free Zone is a project implemented since 2019 to designate strategic industries in non-metropolitan areas and eliminate regulations to promote innovative growth and balanced development in the regions.

Currently, Ulsan has three Regulation-Free Zones designated: the Hydrogen Green Mobility Zone, the Genome Service Industry Zone, and the Carbon Dioxide Resource Utilization Zone.