IMO Finalizes Interim Safety Guidelines for Ammonia Fuel Ahead of MEPC 82

After a week of serious talks, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has completed new guidelines for using ammonia as a fuel for ships. This decision was made during the 10th meeting of the IMO’s Subcommittee on Carriage of Cargoes and Containers (CCC) last week.

As the shipping industry focuses on changing to cleaner energy sources, the use of alternative fuels like ammonia is growing. To ensure safety in refueling ships with these fuels, the CCC has been working on interim safety guidelines for ships using ammonia and hydrogen.

With the new guidelines ready, the IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) is expected to approve them in December. These guidelines should start being used in 2025.

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The guidelines are mostly general and focus on functional requirements to help in the use of ammonia. However, they will need updates based on real-world experiences of handling the fuel.

Some key points in the guidelines include how to store ammonia on ships. It must be kept in a refrigerated state at normal atmospheric pressure. The guidelines also set safe levels for ammonia detection: 25 parts per million (ppm) in enclosed spaces, 110 ppm in secondary areas, and 220 ppm, which will trigger alarms and shutdowns. The CCC mentioned that some safety levels might change in the future as more information becomes available. Ships must also have ammonia treatment systems to prevent dangerous leaks.

Ammonia is harmful and can cause serious health issues. For instance, exposure to 1600 ppm of ammonia for just 30 minutes can be deadly. Therefore, it is very important to have strong leak detection systems.

There are good signs for ammonia becoming a cleaner fuel option for the shipping industry. According to Clarksons’ Green Technology Tracker, there were 15 orders for ships designed to use ammonia in the first half of this year. Additionally, the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonization (GCMD) in Singapore reported a successful project transferring ammonia between ships at the Port of Dampier, Australia. In this project, 4,000 cubic meters (about 2,700 tons) of ammonia were transferred between two ships, MOL’s Green Pioneer and Navigator Gas’ Navigator Global. Each transfer took around six hours.

This progress is timely as the IMO’s Intersessional Working Group on Reduction of GHG Emissions (ISWG-GHG) begins its 17th session this week. This meeting comes before the 82nd session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC), which will start on September 30. Both meetings aim to finalize plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They will discuss technical standards for global marine fuel and agreements on economic incentives to help the shipping industry transition to net-zero operations.