Shipping operators will need flexible fuel strategies to adapt to changing fuel availability, prices, and environmental regulations, according to John Bergman, CEO of Auramarine, a Finnish provider of fuel supply and auxiliary systems for ships.

"The industry has spent years asking which fuel will win," Bergman said in an emailed statement on Wednesday. "That may be the wrong question."

Operators cannot predict with confidence which fuels will be available, compliant, or commercially viable in the coming years, he said. The context for that uncertainty is the International Maritime Organization's tightening of greenhouse gas rules, including its 2020 sulphur cap and its 2023 revised strategy targeting net-zero emissions from international shipping around 2050, alongside regional measures such as the EU's inclusion of shipping in its Emissions Trading System from 2024 and FuelEU Maritime rules taking effect in 2025. At the same time, the pool of candidate fuels — LNG, methanol, ammonia, biofuels, and hydrogen derivatives — remains at different stages of availability, cost, and bunkering infrastructure, leaving operators without a single settled pathway.

"The operators who adapt best will be the ones who built in the flexibility to their fuel strategy to respond as conditions change," Bergman said.

Auramarine's fuel split technology, first delivered in 2019 and now installed on around 20 vessels, is designed to give ships greater flexibility. The retrofit system allows vessels to use different fuels, such as MGO and biofuel, through the same engine without lengthy changeover procedures. Because it can be retrofitted to vessels already in service, the system enables operators to switch fuels to meet emissions requirements, maintenance needs, or changes in fuel prices. That retrofit approach is notable because most alternative-fuel deployments to date have come through newbuildings ordered with specific fuel designs, while the majority of the existing fleet was built around conventional fuels and faces retrofit decisions as regulations tighten.

Cruise and ferry operators are among those facing the strongest need for flexibility, as they regularly operate across different regulatory zones and environmentally sensitive waters, Bergman said.

"Cruise and ferry operators feel this earliest and most acutely," he said. "These vessels constantly move between regulatory zones and environmentally sensitive waters, so the ability to switch fuel supply without disrupting a schedule is an operational necessity."

Auramarine noted that flexibility also needs to be matched with appropriate maintenance, servicing, and technical support throughout a vessel's lifecycle.

"Over the next few years, operators who succeed will be the ones who stopped waiting for certainty and started building optionality instead," Bergman said. "In a transition this uncertain, adaptability matters more than any single fuel bet."

Source: Ship & Bunker