Lloyd's Register Maritime Decarbonisation Hub (the Decarb Hub) and the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping (MMMCZCS) have launched a new suite of resources to help shipowners, operators and managers prepare for the safe adoption of ammonia as a marine fuel.
The resources include an Ammonia Process Safety Management (PSM) Maturity Self-Assessment Tool and a series of Ammonia Competency and Training Practitioner Handbooks. Collectively, they form part of the 'Fuel Safety Frameworks: Ammonia' initiative, developed jointly by the Decarb Hub and MMMCZCS, which brings together expertise from across the shipping, energy, fuel production, training and technology sectors.
In preparation for ammonia-fuelled shipping, real progress has been made in understanding the technical requirements for safe ammonia fuel systems. However, ammonia's hazard profile – particularly its toxicity – introduces safety challenges that need to be managed throughout a vessel's operating life. This points to a need for new approaches to operational safety management, training and risk control, both ashore and at sea. Vessel operators with more mature safety management organisations, staffed by teams with the right competencies, will be better placed to control ammonia’s hazards and reduce the risk of incidents.
The Ammonia PSM Maturity Self-Assessment Tool aims to help shipowners, operators and managers evaluate where their safety management practices stand today and what might need to improve to achieve ammonia readiness. It uses a 5-tier maturity scale to identify weaknesses and to track improvements over time, helping to strengthen the controls that prevent ammonia incidents. As best practices for managing ammonia safety are still emerging in maritime, the tool borrows its evaluation framework from industries that already manage similar hazards, such as chemical processing and oil & gas. The tool is designed to support ongoing improvement rather than to check compliance, and works alongside existing regulations and requirements.
The three Ammonia Competency and Training Practitioner Handbooks have been developed to help organisations understand what different members of the maritime workforce need to know, understand and be able to do when working with ammonia. They focus on three safety-critical areas: Emergency Response; Maintenance; and Leak Detection, Management, Isolation and Repair. Each handbook translates realistic ammonia operational scenarios into competency and training expectations for shipboard and shore-based roles, including seafarers, vessel managers, terminal personnel, shore support teams and emergency responders.
These resources build on the partners' established Ammonia Phase 3 Competencies and Training project, which identified the capabilities and operational requirements needed to support the safe deployment of ammonia-fuelled vessels.
Tom Chitseko, Head of Risk and Safety at Lloyd’s Register Maritime Decarbonisation Hub, said: “The industry has made significant progress in understanding the technical requirements for ammonia-fuelled vessels. People, processes and organisations must be equally ready. These resources provide practical guidance to help shipowners, operators and managers build that readiness and more systematically manage the risks posed by use of ammonia as a marine fuel.”
Martin Eriksen, Head of Safety Leadership & Operations at the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping, said:
“Ammonia asks for more of our safety management than the conventional fuels we're used to. A leak that would be a contained minor technical failure with conventional fuel can become an operational crisis with ammonia. This tool has been developed so operators don't have to work that out the hard way — it gives them a structured way to see where their safety management stands today, and what 'ammonia-ready' looks like in practice.
Additionally, the tool draws on process safety management having decades of track record in chemical engineering and oil & gas, handling exactly the kind of hazards ammonia introduces. This tool translates that experience into something maritime operators can use, in their language, against their operations."
The Ammonia PSM Tool and Competency and Training Practitioner Handbooks are available free of charge from the Decarb Hub/Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping at: