Methanol as a fuel

Methanol is emerging as a potential alternative fuel for shipping. When produced from sustainable hydrogen and CO2 by direct air capture, it is a carbon neutral fuel. Since 2015 methanol has been in use on a small scale but with a significant order book of dual fuel ships capable of using methanol the amount of ships using this alcohol-based marine fuel is expected to grow fast the coming decade.

The Clean Marine Fuels Working Group has just completed work on developing safety tools for Methanol as a marine fuel and you can download both ship-to-ship and truck-to-ship transfer versions in this section of the portal (Link embedded to the new download section)

In the meantime, the Port of Amsterdam, which is a member of the Clean Marine Fuels Working Group, has published an external safety study with DNV on bunkering of alternative marine fuel for seagoing vessels and on spatial considerations when looking at installing bunkering infrastructure at ports for fuels such as methanol. The report can be downloaded here.