On Demand Webinar | Ammonia Safety Study – Recommendations for Design and Operation of Ammonia-Fueled Vessels Based on Multi-disciplinary Risk Analysis

Watch webinar recording here, or download slides here.

The implementation of alternatives to conventional fossil-based fuels is key to decarbonization of the global shipping industry. Ammonia is currently one of the frontrunners among alternative shipping fuels, as it can be combusted with limited amount of carbon dioxide emissions. However, using ammonia as a shipping fuel creates potential safety hazards, including toxicity, onboard fires, and explosions. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the ammonia risks to crew and the safeguards that can be implemented to reduce them to tolerable levels

In addition to the various industry studies on Ammonia as a fuel, Lloyd’s Register Maritime Decarbonization Hub and the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping have pioneered a novel multi-disciplinary approach to assess and address the onboard safety risks of ammonia as a shipping fuel to a ship’s crew.

The first section of the report summarizes the results of an iterative quantitative risk assessment (QRA) analysis applied to three reference designs for ammonia-fueled vessels. QRA is a powerful data-driven method that allows users to assess risk in a quantitative and granular manner. Importantly, QRA can be used to quantitatively estimate the effectiveness of risk mitigations by adding different modifications to the QRA model and observing their impact on the risk calculation. In our project, we used this capability of QRA to identify design and operational measures that would reduce risk to a tolerable level.

To complement this quantitative analysis, the second main section of the report summarizes insights from an analysis of human factors considerations, such as training, competences and work practices, that will be impacted by a transition to ammonia fuel use. A key hurdle in the use of ammonia as a fuel to deliver zero carbon emissions shipping is crew safety.

The study into ammonia safety onboard ships has shown that the risks to crew can be kept within published tolerable limits, provided that the maritime industry implement a range of mitigations.

In this webinar, we will discuss the key findings and recommendations from the study to achieve a better shared understanding of the most critical safety challenges which needs to be addressed for the Ammonia fuel pathway.

If you have a question about the content or input on what are the most important missing pieces and/or next actions on ammonia safety for the maritime industry, we encourage you to bring it forward during the webinar.

We expect the discussions to be of technical and safety nature and participants to engage in the elaborations on risks, challenges and potential solutions for handling ammonia.