GCMD in midst of developing emergency response plan for ammonia STS ops
- Published
by Admin
The Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation on Tuesday (23 July) said it has been developing an emergency response plan (ERP) draft with industry partners specifically tailored to accidental ammonia release.
The partners GCMD is working with are Oil Spill Response Limited, BlueTack and Stream Marine Technical.
“GCMD is working with industry partners to develop a draft ERP for ammonia STS operations, with the aim of adapting it for bunkering,” it said in an update.
Given ammonia’s toxicity, GCMD said it was important to have a well-defined emergency response plan (ERP) to minimise the impact of accidental ammonia release and safeguard life, property, and the environment.
“Existing ERPs for oil and chemical spills can provide a valuable foundation, especially in areas such as tiered response levels based on the severity of release,” it said.
“This, in turn, determines resource needs and multi-agency coordination protocols. However, it is important to recognise that we will need to supplement these plans with procedures tailored to ammonia’s properties.”
The provisional ERP report is scheduled to be released in Q4 of 2024.
Note: GCMD’s visuals for a preview of the ammonia release ERP it is working on, highlighting some of the scenarios when ammonia is released both into sea and air, can be found here.
Photo credit: Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation
Published: 23 July 2024
