IMO Approves Mandatory Requirements for Ships to Record and Report Bunker Consumption

MEPC has unanimously approved mandatory requirements for ships to record and report their bunker consumption

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) Friday announced it had approved mandatory requirements for ships to record and report bunker consumption.

The decision, which came at the International Maritime Organization's 69th session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC), moves forward the previously reported proposal where all ships of 5,000 gross tonnage and over will be required to collect consumption data for each type of fuel they use, in addition to other specified data.

IMO said the collected data would be anonymized and presented in a report to MEPC such that individual ship data would not be recognized - a nod to earlier concerns over confidentiality issues. 

With the approval of the draft amendments to MARPOL Annex VI made, exactly what will be collected, and indeed when, is yet to be decided.

What has been decided is that the draft data collection requirements will be put forward for adoption at MEPC 70 in October, and IMO says the scheme could enter into force in 2018.

It ultimately aims to serve as a basis for discussions over whether further measures are needed to enhance vessel energy efficiency, and address greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping - areas that some critics say the efficacy of current IMO policy is lacking. 

IMO called Friday's development "a move that sends a clear and positive signal about the Organization’s continuing commitment to climate change mitigation," and also spoke of the "spirit of the Paris Agreement" amongst the member states.

Presumably Transport & Environment (T&E) and Seas At Risk will not be among those sharing IMOs assessment; having already voiced disappointment at shipping's exclusion from the COP21 climate deal, last week said that when the subject of shipping emissions was on the table at MEPC69, "the IMO could only manage to kick the can down the road to its next meeting."