New Port Readiness tool helps ports worldwide prepare for sustainable shipping fuels
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Ports around the world that want to facilitate the transition to sustainable shipping fuels can make use of a new digital tool that was launched this week at the International Association of Ports & Harbours (IAPH) World Port Conference. The Port Readiness Level tool, which was developed with the support of Port of Rotterdam, helps ports assess their preparedness to offer new sustainable fuels for the maritime industry.
In order to reduce emissions from shipping, the maritime industry is working on the roll-out of low- and zero-carbon fuels such as green methanol, ammonia and hydrogen or, for example, bio-diesel. Each fuel has its own characteristics and a large number of conditions and processes must be met before a ship can safely bunker a new fuel.
The Port Readiness Levels for Marine Fuels (PRL-MF) tool helps structure this process, providing a step-by-step approach to assessing all the preconditions that must be met for ships to be able to bunker alternative fuels in a port.
“This tool provides a practical tool so that ports can easily determine where they are in the journey to sustainable fuels and what actions they need to take before a ship can bunker methanol or ammonia, for example,” explains Cees Boon, Senior Safety Advisor at the Port of Rotterdam who co-developed the tool. “This also provides the rest of the maritime community with clarity about the readiness of ports for the transition.”
“The Port of Rotterdam Authority also uses the tool itself, of course, and this immediately shows where we stand in the world. This year we were one of the first ports in the world to reach level 8 for bunkering methanol and we are currently working hard to bring ammonia and hydrogen to the same level.”
The new tool was developed jointly by the IAPH Clean Marine Fuels Working Group, Mission Innovation’s Zero Emission Shipping and the World Ports Climate Action Program (WPCAP), a cooperation of international ports initiated by the Port of Rotterdam in 2018 which is now being integrated into the organization of IAPH.