Four themes, one safety case.
Our research spans the full alternative-fuel value chain, organised into four interlocking themes. Each has its own library of reports, guidance and related news.
Infrastructure & Logistics
Ports, bunkering and supply-chain readiness for alternative fuels, and the financial, spatial and regulatory conditions that make them safe and viable. The barrier is rarely a single technical failure, but the simultaneous absence of investment confidence, port space, evidence and regulatory obligation.
- ◆Port-specific safety cases: exclusion zones, storage siting and space optimisation
- ◆De-risking investment through lifecycle finance and insurance frameworks
Ship Design, Operations & Systems
Onboard fuel storage, engine retrofit and systems integration, replacing bespoke, project-by-project risk assessments with standardised methods, validated models and clear class and flag responsibilities.
- ◆Fundamental material data beyond conventional structural codes
- ◆Standardised methods and reference datasets over case-by-case assessment
Leakage, Dispersion, Explosion & Fire
The cross-cutting safety theme for new fuels. It reframes the question from “how do we disperse gas?” to “how do we detect a leak early enough to act?”, and designs for realistic leakage rather than the fiction of zero leakage.
- ◆Ammonia as a toxicity hazard, not only a fire and explosion hazard
- ◆Early leak detection as the research objective, not just dispersion
Human Factors & Training
Design the system for the human, then train the human for the system, not the reverse. Human factors are too often retrofitted at the operational stage, leaving crews to manage unfamiliar fuels alongside legacy systems under mounting cognitive load.
- ◆Human factors embedded from the initial design stage
- ◆Hierarchical task analysis for safety-critical competencies