Shipping ‘ready to operate on ammonia’ as far as safety is concerned
Orders for ammonia-fuelled vessels increased more than 200% in 2024, albeit from a low base
There are no ‘showstoppers’ in terms of safety to ammonia’s adoption, DNV’s head of gas technology, piping and safety told Lloyd’s List, despite continued discussion around its toxicity
SHIPPING is ready to use ammonia to fuel ships from a safety standpoint, classification society DNV head of gas technology, piping and safety Trond Berntzen has told Lloyd’s List.
“We don’t see any showstoppers, to put it that way, to operate a vessel on ammonia,” he said. “We consider it possible and safe”.
Recent statistics from DNV’s alternative fuels insight show a positive year for ammonia as a fuel in 2024, with 27 dual-fuel ammonia vessels ordered. That’s a 238% increase on the previous year (albeit from a low base) and does not include an additional order made in February.
Despite this positive momentum, the toxicity of ammonia, which Berntzen acknowledged, has been a millstone around the future fuel’s proverbial neck. A European Maritime Safety Agency report published in 2024 said exposure to ammonia of 300 parts per million for 30 minutes would be a threat to life. That means just 0.3ml of ammonia in a litre of air would be potentially fatal if crew were exposed to it for half an hour.
But Berntzen explained that shipping has dealt with ammonia for “many, many years”, either as cargo on tankers or in reefer or fishing vessels as a coolant.
His organisation is developing its own rules for the use of ammonia as a fuel, which will complement the recent interim guidelines agreed at the International Maritime Organization’s 109th meeting of the Maritime Safety Committee.
Those guidelines, while interim, offer some minimum safety standards for the industry, which, according to Berntzen, will accelerate the development of ammonia projects.
DNV’s own rules on working with the gas (which will be published in July 2025) include “good control over the leakage aspect”.
The key is to use ammonia’s affinity with water to deal with leaks, he said. The new DNV rules will require safe havens and escape routes for crews in the event of a leak, as well as the isolation of systems during maintenance to avoid ammonia exposure.
The message from Berntzen was clear: creating a framework, on paper, for the safe use of ammonia as fuel is more than possible.
“Ammonia is dangerous, and I think we shouldn’t underestimate that danger, and I think we should be able to handle public scrutiny and answer questions when they come,” he said.
“We of course, don’t want any accidents, no matter if it’s a DNV-classed vessel or any other classed vessel. So that’s why we are taking an active role and trying to participate in the discussions and answering any concerns that anyone might have”.
Berntzen said his organisation had “a sort of moral duty” to share its knowledge with the wider shipping community, particularly the IMO, where it had a “very active voice” in the development of the interim guidelines.
“There are aspects of the IMO guidelines that are not fully complete, but we feel we have good answers to those aspects as well,” he said.
There are some answers the industry is still trying to find when working with what is still a new molecule for most.
The way ammonia moves as a gas can be unpredictable, Berntzen said, which while not a total unknown still required further study.
“But we are studying it, and we also feel we have good answers for it to ensure the leakages don’t happen and that we have enough secondary barriers in place to stop ammonia reaching the atmosphere.”
Shipping can create the rules and guidelines to operate with ammonia safely, Berntzen believes.
“I feel we are ready to operate on ammonia.”
