Reviewing alternative fuel and cargo capabilities in Maritime Environmental Emergencies
Four representatives from the Northern Territory attended an intense workshop from 20 to 22 May in Canberra, designed to start finding gaps in response capability for incidents involving novel fuels and cargo.
As there is a global trend towards reducing emissions, it is often the case that new technology development and release for general use leads to lack of consideration for hazard, risk and consequence of the new technology, outpacing regulatory and safety considerations. Lithium-ion batteries are a case in point.
The workshop format saw experts deliver briefings on the alternative fuels, the product and byproducts (i.e. what happens when they contact water?) of their use as an energy source and their risks.
Syndicates made up of attendees from each state and the NT then discussed response requirements to incidents including explosions and fires, slow leaks and explosive release of substances.
The impacts on community, the environment and the needs of responders to provide for response and recovery.
Members included environment experts, fire service science teams, ships captains, ships engineers, first responders, emergency management leaders, salvage experts and senior WorkSafe researchers.
The discussion was free flowing, extraordinarily informative and in some cases, quite frightening as to potential impacts.
Energy sources discussed included Lithium-Ion batteries, ammonia, hydrogen, methanol and nuclear power.
While most are not new as substances, the application and the manner of application is new and there is a need to make certain we are better placed for responding to emergencies than we have been for lithium batteries.
There were so many facts, figures and learnings over the three days, and we only cracked the door on managing the hazards and risk of emerging technologies. There’s a great deal of work to come and we’ve only just started.
Some of those facts and figures:
- Since 2022, 8 vessels have been lost to li-Ion fires and there have been 200+ reported fire incidents.
- A company in Hobart, Tasmania is building a major ferry that will be powered by the equivalent of 870 electric vehicles.
- There are autonomous (uncrewed, remote controlled) vessels already operating (60 in Australia alone – less than 12m in size), with larger cargo carriers in planning stages.
- There are nuclear powered cargo vessels being designed, using a small modular reactor (SMR) that can be replaced and reconditioned as they “expire”, much like a battery.
- There are plans for autonomous, nuclear and li-Ion powered vessels (!). Control hubs will most likely be in Asia and Europe.
- Offshore wind farms will include floating generators classed as vessels. Most of these will be off the southeast coast.
- There are 7 vessels already operating on ammonia as a fuel, with some 22 more being built.
- Methanol power is seen as an easy conversion to make from diesel power, while other fuels require bespoke design and construction.
