IMO Adopts Mandatory Fuel Consumption Data Collection System

Ships above 5,000 gross tonnage will be required to collect and report data to an IMO database, effective 2019.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) at the 70th session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 70) adopted a mandatory fuel consumption data collection system for international shipping, the International Bunker Industry Association (IBIA) has noted, which was represented at last week's meeting.

Through the new Regulation 22A on collection and reporting of ship fuel oil consumption data, as well as new appendices covering information that should be submitted to the IMO Ship Fuel Oil Consumption Database, ships above 5,000 gross tonnage will be required to collect and report data to an IMO database, effective at the start of 2019.

As Ship & Bunker has previously reported, vessels subject to the regulation will be required to collect consumption data for each type of fuel they use, in addition to other specified data.

Draft guidelines for administration, data verification procedures, and draft guidelines for the development and management of the IMO Ship Fuel Consumption Database are still yet to be developed, notes IBIA, adding that work will continue through a correspondence group.

"There was support for encouraging voluntary early implementation of the data collection and submission, so shipping companies and Administrations get used to the process before it becomes a mandatory requirement. Any data submitted prior to 2019 will not form part of any analysis," explained IBIA.

On Monday, Ship & Bunker reported that the Sustainable Shipping Initiative (SSI) had welcomed the integration of the IMO’s third GHG study (2012) with the Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) data collection scheme, as well as the provision for the development of a fourth GHG study from 2012 to 2018 in order to fill data gaps.