SEA-LNG and MAMII Sign Four-Year Methane Emissions Pact for IMO Push

SEA-LNG and the Methane Abatement in Maritime Innovation Initiative (MAMII) have signed a four-year Memorandum of Understanding to tighten technical cooperation on methane emissions from LNG-fuelled vessels, with immediate effect at the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The deal, formalised on 26 October, embeds MAMII as a technical knowledge partner inside SEA-LNG's IMO delegation just weeks before the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) reconvenes in November.

For carriers and operators betting on LNG as a transition fuel, the timing matters. Methane slip — unburned methane escaping from engines — has become the central technical critique of LNG-fuelled tonnage, and regulatory scrutiny at the IMO is intensifying. A coalition armed with measurement methodologies and trial data now speaks with one voice in the rooms where those rules get written.

What does the agreement actually change?

Under the MoU, MAMII will contribute expertise on three fronts: methane measurement methodologies, emissions monitoring and abatement technologies. MAMII representatives will participate in IMO technical working groups, correspondence groups and related discussions, all under SEA-LNG's coordination.

The partnership builds on an existing relationship between the two organisations. It also follows SEA-LNG's initial participation in IMO meetings in its capacity as a non-governmental organisation with consultative status — a status that gives the LNG industry a formal seat in regulatory debate.

Steve Esau, Chief Operating Officer of SEA-LNG, said the partnership would strengthen the organisation's technical engagement at the IMO and contribute to policy discussions supported by industry data and research. The emphasis on evidence over advocacy signals how the LNG camp intends to defend the fuel's climate case: with measurement, not messaging.

Panos Mitrou, Chair of MAMII and Senior Vice President for Shipping Strategy at Lloyd's Register, highlighted the importance of technical evidence in developing measures to address maritime emissions. His dual role links the initiative directly to one of shipping's major classification societies, adding institutional weight to the four-year commitment.

Which technologies are in the trials?

The collaboration draws on MAMII's existing research into methane reduction technologies. Trials have involved plasma-catalytic systems and methane-oxidation catalysts, and according to the initiative, these trials have produced promising preliminary results.

Those two technology families target different points in the emissions chain. Plasma-catalytic systems and methane-oxidation catalysts both aim to convert or capture methane that would otherwise escape to the atmosphere — work that could determine whether LNG-fuelled vessels can meet tighter well-to-wake emissions accounting as IMO rules evolve.

For shipowners, the commercial stakes are concrete. Vessels ordered today with LNG propulsion will trade for two decades or more, and their compliance value depends on whether abatement technology can close the methane gap. Forwarders and cargo owners marketing low-carbon supply chains face the same question when they book LNG-fuelled services.

Who sits behind the initiative?

MAMII, launched and led by Safetytech Accelerator, brings together maritime companies, LNG stakeholders and technology developers. Its remit is the development and adoption of methane measurement and reduction solutions specifically for LNG-powered ships.

SEA-LNG, for its part, functions as the industry coalition advocating the LNG pathway — from liquefied biomethane to synthetic LNG — and now carries MAMII's technical portfolio into IMO fora under the new arrangement.

The four-year term of the MoU is notable in itself. It spans the period in which the IMO is expected to refine its greenhouse gas measures, meaning the partnership is built to outlast a single regulatory cycle rather than respond to one committee session.

With MEPC discussions scheduled for November, the alliance gives the LNG sector a consolidated technical presence at the table precisely as methane emissions move from scientific debate into regulatory drafting — and the preliminary trial results, if they hold, will shape how defensible LNG remains in shipping's decarbonisation hierarchy.