MRV Implementation Discussed at ESSF Plenary

ESSF held its 6th Plenary Meeting in Brussels on June 28, 2016 to discuss the implementation of the EU Monitoring, Reporting and Verification regulation.

Julien Dufour, CEO of Verifavia Shipping (Verifavia) says the European Sustainable Shipping Forum (ESSF) held its 6th Plenary Meeting in Brussels on June 28, 2016 to discuss the implementation of the European Union's (EU's) Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) regulation.

As Ship & Bunker has previously reported, the MRV regulation will require shipping companies to submit ship-specific monitoring plans to verifiers for approval by the end of the August 2017, with per-voyage monitoring set to start on January 1, 2018.

Dufour explains that European Commission (EC) has set two expert groups, including one for Monitoring and Reporting (M&R), and another for Verification and Accreditation (V&A) of verifiers.

"The main task of the M&R group was to define the rules for the determination of cargo carried on-board ships other than the three types already considered in the Regulation (passenger ships, container ships and ro-ro ships)," said Dufour.

"The M&R group recommended relevant parameters for the reporting of cargo carried for oil tankers, chemical tankers, LNG carriers, gas carriers, bulk carriers, general cargo ships, refrigerated cargo ships, vehicle carriers, combination carriers, ro-pax, container / ro-ro cargo, and other ship types."

Dufour says that discussions highlighted that ro-pax vessels pose the greatest challenge under the MRV regulation, as vessel fuel consumption has to be recorded according to amounts used for transportation of passengers and that used for transportation of cargo.

The M&R group's tasks are also said to include the development of recommendations for further needed technical guidance on monitoring fuel consumption and other parameters, including monitoring plan templates and rules for reporting using automated systems.

"Several issues have been identified with possible amendments of the regulation including: the measurement of fuel density, the use of IMO emission factors instead of IPCC factors, the determination of cargo carried on-board ro-ro ships, the definition of passenger ships, distance travelled, and time at sea," explained Dufour.

Recommendations of the MRV working groups are intended to be used by EC to prepare the draft delegated and implementing acts, set for publication for public consultation in December 2016 at the latest.

In March, Ship & Bunker reported that Verifavia has granted approval to Setel Hellas S.A.'s (Setel Hellas') SeeMBox-V MRV Solution, which is intended for auditing purposes under MRV regulations.