Industry-first advisory on methanol bunkering published by ABS

Rules & Regulation

April 22, 2024, by Naida Hakirevic Prevljak

Classification society American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) has released an industry-first advisory on methanol bunkering.

With the publication of ABS Methanol Bunkering: Technical and Operational Advisory, ABS is expanding its suite of guidance on methanol as a marine fuel.

As explained, a key component of the methanol value chain and the overall scalability of the fuel will be the ability to bunker methanol, either by truck-to-ship, ship-to-ship or land storage tank/terminal-to-ship.

The new advisory provides the maritime industry with insight into the challenges of bunkering methanol and strategies to address them.

“As the class provider for the world’s largest methanol-fueled vessel and with numerous methanol-based projects underway, ABS has unrivalled insight into the adoption of methanol as a marine fuel. Numbers of methanol fueled vessels are growing rapidly and ABS is focused on supporting its safe adoption by the industry, which is why we are proud to offer this publication to support owners, operators and yards with bunkering challenges related to operations, design and training,” John McDonald, ABS President and COO, commented.

The publication provides guidance regarding the technical and operational challenges of the supplier to the receiving vessel including critical design issues, regulatory compliance, safe practices, areas of operational processes to consider, training and safety aspects.

Over the past few years, the classification society has been involved in several methanol-related ship projects such as Maersk’s fleet of methanol-powered containership. In 2023, ABS classed Laura Maersk, the world’s first methanol-fueled containership.