THE European Community Shipowners Association (ECSA) and the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) have expressed doubts about the proposed EU monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of carbon emissions from ships.
One point of contention is the EU demand for cargo information. Another is that it wants its regional regulation to preempt the UN's global rule making now being hammered out at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).
The ICS said there is a suspicion that a demand for cargo information will to lead to the development of a mandatory operational efficiency index, reported London's Tanker Operator.
"This could be used by governments to impose financial penalties on ships, regardless of their actual fuel consumption and CO2 emissions," said ICS secretary general Peter Hinchliffe.
An EU monitoring, reporting and verification proposal has been tentatively adopted and may go into force in 2018, applying to ships above 5,000 tonnes arriving and departing from EU ports regardless of flag.
The measure requires a vote from European Parliament and Council of Ministers. The regulation would also require ships to report distance sailed.
Said ECSA secretary general Patrick Verhoeven: "There are concerns regarding data reliability and confidentiality, as well as reporting responsibilities and obligations.
"At ECSA, we would have preferred the inclusion of cargo-related data to have simply been postponed until an agreement was reached at IMO," he said.
"Most importantly, we call upon the European Commission to engage with non-European member states at IMO to ensure that a common MRV instrument will be achieved," said Mr Verhoeven.
The ICS also expressed disappointment that the EU is about to pre-empt negotiations taking place at the IMO on shipboard CO2 emissions by unilaterally adopting a regional regulation.
"The industry fully supports the development of a global data collection system by IMO, but the imminent adoption of a regional EU regime, which may not be compatible with whatever is agreed at IMO, will certainly complicate and perhaps jeopardise these delicate negotiations," the ICS said.
Agreement at IMO will require the support of non-EU nations with which the vast majority of the global fleet is registered, including developing countries, such as China and India for whom additional CO2 regulations are a politically sensitive.
ICS said that it believed that it would be far better if the EU institutions delayed final adoption until after IMO has been given a proper chance to build on the good progress it has recently made towards delivering a global regulation on data collection.
WORLD SHIPPING
02 December 2014 - 08:34
EU shipowners, International Chamber of Shipping to EU: Hold carbon cops
THE European Community Shipowners Association (ECSA) and the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) have expressed doubts about the proposed EU monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of carbon emissions from ships.
WORLD SHIPPING
02 December 2014 - 08:34
EU shipowners, International Chamber of Shipping to EU: Hold carbon cops
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