News / CMA CGM in bio-methane deal; seafarers unconcerned by toxic ammonia fuel

© Olivier Le Moal |

There are two events of note in the fuel business today: CMA CGM has signed a biomethane waste-to-fuel agreement; and a survey by the Maersk McKinney-Møller Center shows almost 60% of seafarer respondents are willing to work on an ammonia-fuelled ship.

The deal between CMA CGM and French provider Suez will entail annual production and sourcing of 100,000 tonnes of bio-methane a year and creation of a joint $108m investment programme to support the fuel’s development.

Methane can be collected from off-gas captured from bacterial breakdown of organic material, which can be food waste, sewage, industrial and agricultural run-off and landfill. Because these sources would lead to methane emissions, burning it as ship fuel offsets further fossil fuel extraction, while turning an existing source of methane into an emission of less-harmful CO2.

The EU is hoping to collect some 35bn cubic metres of bio-methane a year by 2030, equivalent to 20% of the natural gas imported from Russia in 2022.

The fuel would “accelerate the decarbonisation of CMA CGM Group and guarantee our carbon neutrality trajectory by 2050”, said CMA CGM chair Rodolphe Saadé, who added that the move would also strengthen French energy independence.

A drop-in replacement for LNG, bio-methane is also the revamped strategy of Maersk, which admitted to The Loadstar in August that dry feedstocks of bio-methanol would, ultimately, be “limited in supply and scale”, and bio-methane instead would be “a viable fuel pathway” with “significant scaling potential”.

Meanwhile, another fuel, ammonia, got a nod of approval from 2,000 seafarers this week in the Maersk McKinney-Møller Center survey of 2,000 respondents. While 12% repored they would be unwilling to work or sail on a vessel fuelled by ammonia, 58.6% said they would.

Green ammonia promises a fuel which, unlike bio-methanol, is functionally unlimited in scale, derived from captured CO2 and nitrogen (N2), the most abundant element in the atmosphere. However, the industry is not without concerns about the fuel: it is extremely toxic, deadly in high concentrations, and inherently unsafe. according to some experts.

“…Respondents’ basic perception of the characteristics… and safe handling of ammonia seems to be generally accurate and reflects a good understanding of the possible risks involved,” the survey said.

However, the survey also showed “a lack of knowledge regarding some technical aspects of ammonia handling and operations”.