Regulations and guidelines necessary to scale ammonia uptake in shipping – MMMCZCS

The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) is still in the process of developing guidelines and standards on ammonia-fuelled ships.

PHOTO: Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K Line) showed a generic model of an ammonia-fuelled bulk carrier in November 2022. K Line

Currently, the IMO’s International Code for the Construction and Equipment of Ships Carrying Liquefied Gases in Bulk (IGC Code), restricts the use of ammonia as marine fuel, according to a whitepaper released by Maersk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping (MMMCZCS).

Despite these IGC Code restrictions, vessels under contruction that will be capable of running on ammonia when they come into operation can still be approved by flag states to burn ammonia. But shipowners will only get approval if they can demonstrate that a vessel's design incorporates similar safety standards to those of an LNG-fuelled vessel, MMMCZCS says.

The report argues that thorough risk-profiling was done when other alternative fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and ethane were introduced as bunker fuels. It also says ship designers can look up ammonia safety guidelines from ship classification societies. Several of the biggest classification societies, such as DNV, the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), ClassNK and China Classification Society have come out with their own guidelines on ammonia as a fuel, while a global IMO standard is still in the works.

Ammonia was discussed as a fuel for ships during an IMO’s sub-committee meeting on Carriage of Cargoes and Containers (CCC) last September. The sub-committee emphasised that the current International Code of Safety for Ships using Gases or other Low-flashpoint Fuels (IGF Code) is insufficient to tackle the complex challenges of burning ammonia such as a fuel, including its toxic and corrosive nature.

The IGF Code entered into force in 2017 and was specifically designed for LNG as a fuel.

The sub-committee has set a deadline to finalise ammonia guidelines by next year. Once these guidelines are finalised, the sub-committee will be sending a proposal to the IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) for approval, MMMCZCS says.

By Nithin Chandran

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