Climate Adaptation
Ship Orders Slump 50% With Owners Unsure Which Green Fuel to Use
- LNG, ammonia and hydrogen among alternative fuel contenders
- Orders at lowest in at least two decades in 2020: IHS Markit
Ships under construction at a shipyard in Geoje, South Korea.
Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Ship owners facing looming deadlines to use less-polluting fuels have slashed the number of new vessels on order because they don’t know which alternative technology to switch to.
Ammonia, hydrogen, biofuels and electrification are some of the many contenders to power the world’s future merchant fleet, but most are only in the trial stage and won’t be scalable for at least a decade. With the life of a commercial ship averaging around 20 years, opting for a technology that doesn’t take off could be very costly.