IBIA Seeks Change to CII Regulation for Bunker Vessels

Edmund Hughes is IBIA's IMO representative and a former senior official at the UN body. Image Credit: IBIA

Bunker industry organisation IBIA is seeking changes to the IMO's Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) regulation to avoid it having an unfair impact on bunker delivery vessels.

The organisation has submitted a proposal to the UN body's Marine Environment Protection Committee to amend the CII methodology and formula, it said in an emailed statement on Thursday.

"With the IMO's initial Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) ratings applied to ships, like others IBIA has noted the current inadequacies of CII methodology to appropriately reflect the service of bunker vessels which predominantly operate over short distances (duration) in port areas," the organisation said.

"IBIA seeks a CII methodology that is accurate, reliable, and implemented in a manner that fully reflects the intent of the IMO Strategy for its members' bunker vessels that undertake a vital role in supporting international trading commercial ships."

The CII rules came into effect on January 1, 2023 and give ships an annual efficiency rating on a scale of A (best) to E (worst). Ships with D and E ratings must improve to at least a C rating.

IBIA's proposal would incorporate a correction factor for short voyages to prevent ships with frequent short-duration voyages like bunker delivery vessels from being disproportionately penalised.

"IBIA as an organisation with consultative states at the IMO fully supports the effective and uniform implementation of the regulatory framework for international shipping," Edmund Hughes, IBIA's IMO representative, said in the statement.

"However, where anomalies are identified in those regulations IBIA will provide constructive input to their further development.

"IMO is undertaking a review of the Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) and IBIA has submitted a document to MEPC 82 proposing a short voyage (duration) correction factor be applied to ensure bunker vessels, which perform an invaluable service to support international shipping, are not overly penalised due to the nature of their unique service duty."