Ammonia Bunkering—Infrastructure, Finance, Insurance and Regulatory Issues: A Review

To comply with IMO Net Zero framework ammonia is emerging as a future fuel without carbon and sulphur products emission. Bunkering is a process of loading fuel on ships. Ships are not using ammonia as fuel at present. Engine makers are developing dual fuel engines to operate on ammonia. The prerequisite to use ammonia is a robust and safe infrastructure to supply green ammonia as fuel in ports worldwide. Fuel supply can be done by pipelines in ports, ship to ship transfer at anchorages or in ports, and truck to ship bunkering in ports. Ammonia being a corrosive and toxic chemical, and hazard identification and risk assessment needs to be carried out. Procedure for measurement of ammonia quantity and quality will need to be formulated. IGF Code will be applicable to Ammonia as fuel. All safety aspects will need to be included in a rigorous crew training and certification as per STCW convention. The methodology used for the paper is literature review, study of existing industry practices for bunkering of alternate fuels like LNG, Methanol and LPG and how it can be safely applied for ammonia bunkering. Key findings are that it will be safe to bunker ammonia by designing a robust system with inbuilt safety features similar to what is used for cryogenic fuel like Liquefied Natural Gas with stress on handling of toxic and corrosive properties and considering safety of crew and environmental protection.