LNG · AMMONIA · CO2 · METHANOL
Alternative Fuels & AiP Advisory
Regulatory guidance for alternative-fuel and novel-design projects: LNG, ammonia, CO2 and methanol, for newbuilds and for conversions. We map the approval route before the design commits to it, review the concept package against the instruments that will actually be applied to it, and build the submission for the body that issues the Approval in Principle.
Led by a former Deputy Commissioner of Maritime Affairs for the Republic of the Marshall Islands and former Corporate Vice President of the American Bureau of Shipping, which means the package is prepared by someone who has worked inside both kinds of approval body.
What's Included
- Regulatory pathway mapping for alternative-fuel newbuilds and conversions
- Approval in Principle strategy and submission support, prepared for the class society or the administration that issues it
- Review of design-basis, risk assessment and concept documentation before it reaches the approver
- Guidance on the IGF Code, the IMO interim guidelines for the fuel in question, and the alternative-design approval route under MSC.1/Circ.1455
- The owner's regulatory voice in yard, designer and approver meetings
How We Engage
- 1
Map the concept against the applicable instruments.
- 2
Build the approval strategy and review the package before it is submitted.
- 3
Support the submission and the dialogue with the approver, through AiP and beyond.
Outcomes
We advise on the regulatory route, we build the strategy and we review and prepare submissions. Design engineering remains with your designer, and approval authority remains with class and flag. SolarisTech does not issue Approvals in Principle. Our reports are prepared for the party that instructs us and for the purpose stated in the engagement. Reliance by any other party requires our written agreement.
Questions we're asked
What is an Approval in Principle?
A class society's or an administration's confirmation that a novel design concept has no fundamental regulatory obstacle, based on a review of the concept package. It is the entry ticket to serious conversations with yards, owners and financiers about a design that does not fit the existing prescriptive rules.
Does an AiP mean the design is approved?
No, and treating it as approval is the most expensive misunderstanding in novel-design projects. An AiP opens the road to design approval. The conditions attached to it are the map of the engineering and risk work still to be done. We plan projects around those conditions from day one.
Does the IGF Code cover ammonia and methanol?
The IGF Code's prescriptive provisions were written around natural gas. Other low-flashpoint fuels proceed through the Code's alternative-design route and through the IMO's interim guidelines for the fuel in question. That is a regulatory pathway question, and answering it for your specific ship, fuel and flag is exactly what this service does.
Who approves an alternative-fuel ship, class or flag?
Both, in different capacities. Class reviews and certifies against its rules. The flag issues the statutory certificates and rules on alternative-design submissions. Projects run more smoothly when the submission is built by someone who has worked inside both kinds of approval body, which our founder has: senior technical leadership in a leading classification society, then a flag administration at Deputy Commissioner level. We prepare the package for the approver. The approver issues the AiP.
What does a fuel-ready notation actually mean?
That the design reserves space, structure and arrangements for a future conversion to the named fuel, verified to the scope of that notation, and nothing more. It is an option purchased at newbuild, not a conversion approval. The conversion itself will still need its own approval pathway when the option is exercised.
YOUR REVIEWER
Thomas Blenk
American Bureau of Shipping, latterly Corporate Vice President, Global Marine Sectors. Deputy Commissioner of Maritime Affairs, Republic of the Marshall Islands.
Plan the approval before the design.
Tell us the fuel, the ship and the timeline.