GCMD Shares Safety Lessons from Pioneering Ammonia Transfer Trial

The ammonia transfer trial was carried out last year at an anchorage near Port Dampier, Western Australia. Image Credit: GCMD

The Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation (GCMD) has released a report sharing safety insights from a first-of-its-kind ammonia ship-to-ship (STS) transfer trial carried out in September 2024 at an anchorage near Port Dampier, Western Australia.

The operation was designed to simulate conditions similar to future ammonia bunkering and focused heavily on managing safety and leak risks.

During the trial, 2,700 mt of ammonia were transferred between the Green Pioneer and Navigator Global. While the transfer itself followed standard procedures, the trial served as a live testbed for evaluating emergency response protocols and risk mitigation strategies.

A major focus was understanding what would happen if there were a leak.

To investigate this, the team used computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to simulate how ammonia gas might spread in the event of a release. One scenario modelled a 33 m3 leak, four times larger than the worst likely failure.

Even in low-wind conditions, the toxic plume stayed within the anchorage diameter of 1 nm.

These findings helped shape the emergency response plan, including evacuation timelines, safety zones and PPE requirements.

Through HAZID and HAZOP assessments, 23 risks were identified and ranked - 15 medium and eight low, with none rated high. Risks included navigational and berthing challenges due to weather, mooring failures, falling objects during lifting operations, containment breaches in tanks and piping and risks during crew or observer transfers.

The findings come ahead of the first ammonia-fuelled vessels expected to enter service in 2026.

"In the past, bunkering guidelines took years to develop and were typically derived from experience with actual operations," Professor Lynn Loo, CEO of GCMD, said.

"In this case, guideline development is preceding actual commercial-scale operations, making it all the more important that these trials are as informative and comprehensive as possible so they can serve as a relevant reference for industry bodies in refining safe handling procedures, emergency response plans, and operational guidelines."