The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers Singapore (SNAMES) is hosting a technical talk on the future of alternative fuels in the global merchant fleet, to be held on 23 July at One Marina Boulevard, Singapore.

The event, organised in partnership with the Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Employees’ Union (SMEEU), the RINA and IMarEST (Singapore) Joint Branch, the Singapore Nautical Institute, the Association of Singapore Marine & Offshore Energy Industries, and the Singapore Shipping Association, will feature a presentation by Bill Watts, LNG Technical Authority at the Maritime Energy Centre, Bernhard Schulte Group.

Watts brings more than four decades of experience in LNG shipping and maritime energy. He began his career as a Shell apprentice engineering officer aboard the LNG tanker Methane Progress and rose to chief engineer with BP, specialising in LNG tankers. After coming ashore in 2006, he held LNG superintendent roles in Abu Dhabi and Singapore before joining Bernhard Schulte Group in Germany, later transferring to the Singapore office in 2026. He also served on the RINA and IMarEST (Singapore) Joint Branch Council in 2017–2018 and was the owner’s representative for the world’s first two floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) conversions.

Industry data cited by event host SNAMES

According to industry data cited by SNAMES, more than 1,940 alternative-fuel-capable vessels are currently on order globally, with LNG and methanol dominating the orderbook. Emerging orders for ammonia, hydrogen, biofuels and nuclear-powered vessels are also being placed. By 2030, more than a fifth of global fleet tonnage will be capable of running on multiple fuels, the event host states.

However, the fuel supply needed to power these vessels is said to lag well behind the pace of newbuilds, with 2050 projections showing that shipping will require between 200 and 280 million tonnes of oil equivalent in alternative fuels annually. Producing these fuels at scale, SNAMES notes, would demand enormous quantities of renewable energy: the 100–150 million tonnes of green hydrogen needed as feedstock alone would require between 5,000 and 8,250 terawatt-hours of electricity — equivalent to 17–28% of today’s global power output. Green ammonia and methanol are each claimed to require between 10 and 13 megawatt-hours per tonne to produce.

Committed e-fuel production for 2030 is said to meet just 13% of expected demand, while sustainable biofuel supply is currently capped at close to 40 million tonnes against a potential requirement of 140 million tonnes. Bridging this gap requires an estimated $9 trillion in investment, SNAMES says, of which less than $320 billion has been committed to date.

LNG is characterised by the event host as a near-term bridging fuel, with methanol and ammonia positioned as medium-term zero-carbon contenders, and nuclear described as a wildcard option. The primary bottleneck, meanwhile, is not considered by SNAMES to be ship technology but the need to build global renewable energy and electrolyser capacity at a pace and scale not previously seen.

The upcoming talk is intended to explore how the industry can chart a path towards the International Maritime Organization’s 2050 net-zero target.

The event includes a Q&A session, networking and refreshment.