Fuel Choices for Carbon Reduction and Impact on Vessel Design

There are several upcoming regulations focusing on the emissions from maritime transportation requiring owners to rethink their normal operations. One option available to ship owners and operators to achieve compliance with the regulations is to utilize alternate fuels with low-carbon content. These considerations have moved from the future to the present. Current new designs must include plans for future carbon reduction and the widespread availability of low-carbon fuels. This study provides a summary of the available fuels in practical terms that are useful to Naval Architects and Marine Engineers when designing vessels and it will discuss some of the design considerations that must be made to ensure a vessel is transition-ready to operate using these fuels in the near future.