ABS releases 'industry-first' ammonia bunkering guidance

Ammonia is among the maritime industry's future fuel contenders due to the potential for green ammonia to be produced with near-zero emissions from water and atmospheric nitrogen using renewable energy. Ammonia is a toxic gas, and safety considerations around its handling and bunkering are crucial to its adoption as a marine fuel.

ABS's Ammonia Bunkering: Technical and Operational Advisory covers ammonia bunkering design, operations, risk assessment and dispersion analysis, safety procedures and training.

The new advisory compares various critical operational and technical aspects of using ammonia as a bunker fuel to ammonia as a cargo, including the ongoing development of guidelines and procedures for ammonia as a marine fuel, a lack of operational experience, ongoing studies on gas dispersion and release, and the novel challenges from greater combinations of operational modes and higher operational frequency associated with deploying ammonia on a range of vessel types beyond ammonia carriers.

The advisory describes multiple types of ammonia bunkering arrangements, technologies and hardware, including the advantages and disadvantages of truck-to-ship, ship-to-ship and terminal-to-ship bunkering. 

The guidance provides minimum aspects to be considered in risk assessments of bunker operations, and highlights the importance of a gas dispersion analysis in establishing safety, security and exclusion zones around bunkering operations.

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Emergency shutdown systems are outlined, along with leak detection, leak handling, drills, and training.

“ABS has been leading the development of ammonia as a marine fuel and this advisory is the next step in this process. We have built up extensive insight into the application of ammonia at sea, which we are now sharing with the industry. 

“The advisory supports owners, operators, designers, shipyards, ammonia suppliers including terminals and port authorities with comprehensive guidance on the latest thinking around ammonia bunkering, which presents a specific set of new challenges for the industry,” said John McDonald, ABS President and COO.