The Port Readiness Level for Marine Fuels (PRL-MF) assessment tool is an assessment framework that ports can use to self-assess their readiness and identify areas requiring further development to facilitate bunkering of a new low- or zero-carbon marine fuel. It includes a list of assessment criteria with guiding information to support port efforts across research, development, and deployment phases. The tool can be used by any relevant member of a port community, including the port authority, national maritime authority, ship operating customers, and governments.
The PRL-MF consists of nine readiness levels—largely following the schematic of the NASA Technical Readiness Level (TRL). The first three levels concern the research phase, the next three levels address the development phase and the last three levels speak to the deployment phase:
- Research Phase (PRL-MFs 1-3): The goal of the research phase is to determine the relevancy of the fuel for the port and its stakeholders. This phase will help to identify information gaps, determine pros and cons, and ascertain the interest of port stakeholders.
- Development Phase (PRL-MFs 4-6): The goal of the development phase is to make strategic decisions about implementation, create a guiding framework based on assessments and testing, and run a pilot test for the target fuel.
- Deployment Phase (PRL-MFs 7-9): This phase includes scaling-up operations, beginning with a project-based approach and growing into a systems approach that will create a regular port operation.
Each readiness level contains a list of strategies and tasks that, when completed, will help ports assess their current readiness. By examining the tasks required for each readiness level, ports can create a practical roadmap and timeline of the port ambitions. This information, along with the current port readiness level, can be made publicly available so that stakeholders can make informed decisions when investing in fuel production, ships, equipment, planning, routes, green corridors, and more.