MPA Singapore: ammonia bunkering standards by 2025

By Julian Atchison on October 22, 2024

At the annual Singapore International Bunkering Conference earlier this month, Maritime & Port Authority Singapore presented some updates on its progress towards ammonia bunkering.

“Facilitating a Multi-Fuel Bunkering Future”

MPA Singapore’s decarbonisation plans in the near-term future.

Click to enlarge. MPA Singapore’s decarbonisation plans in the near-term future, including the use of alternative fuels. Source: Manifold Times/ MPA Singapore.

Already this year, MPA has overseen multiple bunkering demonstrations for alternative fuels. A ship-to-containership transfer of methanol (including simultaneous container cargo operations) in May was followed by a terminal-to-ship bunkering of ammonia in March (the Fortescue Green Pioneer), with more demos planned.

Since the two finalists were announced in July for an ammonia bunkering and power generation pilot on Jurong Island, additional projects have been added. Sembcorp and Keppel are leading the two finalist consortia, and bunkering pilots led by Mitsui & Co. and Fortescue-Equatorial Marine Fuels join three existing proposals (Itochu, NYKLine and Sumitomo), spread across the two finalists. The winning bid is expected to be announced early next year.

Together with EnterpriseSG, MPA is also developing Singaporean standards for methanol bunkering and ammonia bunkering. These will be delivered by the end of this year and 2025 respectively. The standards will cover custody transfer requirements, safety procedures and crew competencies.

And the new Maritime Energy Training Facility (METF) has attracted new partners. 29 new organisations join the 22 founding partners, and will help shape the METF’s training courses and curriculum to train seafarers in the use of alternative fuels.