American Bureau of Shipping Publishes Ammonia Bunkers Guidance

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Friday October 30, 2020

The American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) has published new guidance on the challenges of using ammonia as a marine fuel, the classification society said Thursday.

The ABS white paper sets out information for shipowners considering ammonia as a possible future fuel. Ammonia is one of the leading contenders to become the dominant bunker fuel in the coming decades as the shipping industry seeks to bear down on its carbon emissions.

"Ammonia is a zero-carbon fuel that can enter the global market relatively quickly and help meet the IMO’s GHG reduction target for 2050," Georgios Plevrakis, director of global sustainability at ABS, said in a statement on the organisation's website.

"It offers shipowners and operators a zero-carbon tank-to-wake emissions profile but is not without challenges, not least the greater prescriptive requirements for containment and equipment than most of the other alternative fuels under consideration and the need for development for supply side infrastructure."

ABS projects ammonia and hydrogen starting to take bunker market share from 2029, and representing as much as 35% of the market by 2050, according to the white paper.

To read the white paper, click here.