Japan-based classification society ClassNK has published a revised edition of its Guidelines for Ships Using Alternative Fuels which now includes interim guidance on hydrogen from the International Maritime Organization (IMO). In a statement issued today (18 August), ClassNK said that Part D (which covers hydrogen-fuelled vessels) now ‘incorporates the Interim Guidelines for the Safety of Ships Using Hydrogen as Fuel (MSC.1/Circ.1701) issued by the IMO this year, and additionally introduces a hydrogen leak frequency table that can be used for the safety assessments required under the IMO guidelines’. Part A of the ClassNK document, which covers methanol/ethanol-fuelled ships, now sets […]

Signatory States of the Djibouti Code of Conduct (DCoC)/Jeddah Amendment have agreed to set up a Combined DCoC Task Force to protect shipping from an escalation of piracy in the Western Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden. Such a task force would ‘provide a practical regional mechanism through which willing Signatory States can conduct coordinated maritime operations in support of existing international maritime security efforts,’ the International Maritime Organization (IMO) explained in a statement sent to ship.energy today (17 August). This could include the possible presence of officers from relevant coastal States aboard participating naval vessels. The recommendation to establish […]

A new report from the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), published today (17 August), identifies the actions that California could take to support the use of renewable hydrogen-based fuels in shipping and aviation, including the introduction of an ultra-low carbon investment standard which could offer ‘revenue certainty’ to in-state producers of such fuels. The premise of the new study, ‘Challenges and policy options to decarbonise the aviation and shipping sectors in California’, is that there are currently ‘no affordable and scalable low-GHG alternatives to the use of fossil fuels’ for the marine and aviation sectors in the U.S state. […]