Carbon emissions could drive up a ship’s resale price because of potential FuelEU Maritime fines for non-compliance, says DNV’s Lukasz Luwanski.
“One fascinating thing I picked up from a broker is that this regulation actually has the potential to impact, and you must have this [emissions] data,” said the regional business development director for South East Asia, Pacific & India.
FuelEU Maritime laws start in January 2025, mandating that ships plying European waters must lower their greenhouse gas emissions by 2% during the year or pay a fine.
To track the vessel’s compliance with emission limits, data such as fuel consumption, carbon emissions and distance travelled would need to be collected, according to DNV’s website.
The penalty to close the compliance gap is €2,400 ($2,520) per tonne of very low-sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) energy equivalent, said Luwanski.
He estimates that in a potential real case, this would be €650 per tonne of CO2.
“The vessel value would be impacted because the buyer would need to pay for whatever extra emissions the seller’s vessel produced, starting 2025, depending on when the buyer takes over the vessel,” he told TradeWinds.
He gave an example: if a vessel is sold at the end of June, and assuming that VLSFO was used in the first six months, the buyer’s exposure could be in the range of $150,000 to $200,000, which would be taken into account in 2026.
FuelEU Maritime regulations state that the document of compliance holder or International Safety Management company is responsible for the vessel’s carbon emissions till 31 December 2025, and non-compliance would affect any potential sale or purchase.
Fuel quality compliance
Cristina Saenz de Santa Maria, DNV’s maritime regional manager for South East Asia, Pacific & India, said: “The type of fuel used will be part of many of the discussions in the sales and purchases and transactions, certainly.”
Shipowners are also paying heed to the new regulations: she noticed that half of the tonnage ordered last year and this year was powered by LNG or methanol.
Luwanski corroborated this point.
“We have a number of shipowners in Singapore that have energy-efficient ships running on LNG, and they are well below the target line, and as long as you are below the 2%, you don’t need to pay,” he said.
He also cited pooling — the combination of lower-carbon ships with vessels that have higher emissions.
“I think if you have one vessel that can run on 70% methanol, it can pool with 55 conventional ships and you can still have compliance,” he said.
The difficulty to comply lies in the “monetary aspect” and is still under discussion, though, according to Saenz de Santa Maria.
FuelEU Maritime sets maximum limits for the yearly average greenhouse gas intensity of the energy used by ships above 5,000 gt calling at European ports, regardless of their flag.
The greenhouse gas intensity of marine fuels will gradually decrease over time, beginning with a 2% decline in 2025 and reaching up to an 80% reduction by 2050.
