Train4AFs - Innovative Seafarer Training of Risk Management for Operating Ships Using Alternative Fuels and New Technologies

Research Project, 2025 – 2027

At the recently concluded 83rd session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) in April 2025, the “IMO Net-Zero Framework” was finalized and approved by the Committee and to be included in MARPOL Annex VI. It is another legally binding initiative aimed at achieving net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from international shipping by around 2050. It means that the future global shipping fleet will heavily rely on a broader range of alternative fuels (AFs), such as hydrogen, ammonia, etc., which are highly flammable and/or explosive and/or toxic, and new technologies (NTs) with net-zero GHG emissions, such as wind-assisted propulsions (WAPs). The challenges and advantages of implementing AFs and NTs in shipping, e.g., bunkering infrastructures, fuel production, propulsion improvement, and environmental benefits, have been extensively studied, enabling proper implementation of different net-zero solutions.

To ensure safe ship operation using various AFs and NTs to achieve net-zero GHG emissions in shipping, this project aims to develop a systematic and innovative GHG Safety Assessment framework for accurately identifying and evaluating accident scenarios and associated risk factors caused by utilization of AFs and NTs enabling human factors analysis. More urgently, this project will incorporate corresponding risk management strategies for seafarers training of operating ships using AFs and NTs for effective risk mitigation, by investigating an extended reality (XR) embedded into ship bridge simulators, which incorporates identified accident scenarios and human risk factors.