FuelEU Maritime Regulation – fuel intensity standard
The FuelEU Maritime regulation comes into force for all voyages which include EU port calls from the 1st January 2025.
The only way to avoid a penalty is to switch to a fuel with a lower GHG intensity on a WtW basis. WtW (well to wake) emissions include all the upstream emissions, so called WtT (well-to-tank) emissions prior to getting the fuel into the fuel tank onboard, as well as the TtW (tank-to-wake) emissions associated with burning it onboard.
As the standard is based on the “GHG intensity” of the fuel burned it is not possible to comply with this regulation by pooling with more efficient vessels if they are all burning conventional fuel oil or diesel.
The resulting annual fuel intensity is assessed, per ship, on the GHG intensity of all the fuel consumed in connection with 100% of all intra-European voyages and 50% of the consumption for voyages in and out of the EU/ EEA. The basis for determining whether a voyage requires compliance with FuelEU, for the ocean passage, is currently identical to EU ETS.
A penalty is to be paid on the non-compliant balance when the reduction in GHG intensity for the fuel consumed is less that a 2% reduction on EU/EEA associated voyages. This reduction target will increase over time, after 2030 to 6% until it finally reaches 80% in 2050.