Impact of Fuel Switch to Methanol on the Design of an all Electric Cruise Ship

Current climate change policies require the reduction of both greenhouse gas and pollutant emissions of the marine sector. To achieve such a goal, the use of non-fossil fuels is one of the proposed solutions. Specifically, methanol has several advantages in respect to other fuels (both fossil and non-fossil), providing a feasible near-term solution for a more sustainable maritime transport. However, since methanol presents different characteristics in respect to actual fossil fuels, it is required to carefully evaluate the effect of its onboard integration on a ship to determine both the technical and economic feasibility of transitioning the onboard power production to such a fuel. The study presented in this paper analyzes the consequences deriving from equipping a modern all electric expedition cruise ship with methanol fuel, considering both technical and economic aspects.