MV Yampu, the world’s first battery-powered self-unloading bulk carrier, has started commercial operations in South Australia for Adbri.
The 125 m vessel entered service on 26 August 2026 and will transport limestone between Adbri’s Klein Point quarry on the Yorke Peninsula and its cement manufacturing facility at Birkenhead in Adelaide.
Built by CSL specifically for the route, MV Yampu has an 11,900 deadweight tonnes carrying capacity and is expected to transport around 2.7 million tonnes of limestone each year. It replaces MV Accolade II and is expected to increase Adbri’s annual limestone carrying capacity by 35%.
The vessel is equipped with a 6,758-kilowatt-hour battery system and currently operates on battery power for around 40% of the time. Its batteries are charged while the vessel is docked at Adbri’s Birkenhead facility.
MV Yampu has also been designed to allow 100% battery-powered operation in the future.
Adbri and CSL expect the vessel to use more than 500,000 litres less diesel annually than MV Accolade II, while Scope 1 emissions are expected to fall by 40%.
The limestone transported by MV Yampu will be used in cement production for projects in South Australia and Victoria.
The vessel was named through an Adbri naming process. Yampu means “dolphin” in the Narungga and Kaurna languages of South Australia.
