Page 19 - 2021 - Q3 - Minerva in Focus

FuelEU Maritime

Regulation

Due to the high GHG intensity of the
commonly used marine fuels, the EU
has decided that additional actions
are required to complement the ETS. As
such, a maximum limit on the green-
house gas content of energy used by
ships calling at European ports will
be set through the FuelEU Maritime
Regulation.
This regulation introduces a goal-
based fuel GHG intensity target whose
stringency increases over time, re-
quiring ship operators to reduce the
carbon footprint of the fuels used
onboard ships. The limits are set on
the GHG Intensity on a Well-to-Wake
(WtW) basis so as to take into account the life cycle impact of different fuels and engine
technologies used in terms of emitted GHG . GHG Intensity is expressed in terms of
equivalent CO2 emissions per energy produced (gCO2eq/Mj).
Having as a starting point the baseline fuel mix of 2020, the yearly average GHG intensity
of the energy used onboard by a ship during a reporting period shall not exceed the
limit below:

• -2% from 1 January 2025;
• -6% from 1 January 2030;
• -13% from 1 January 2035;
• -26% from 1 January 2040;
• -59% from 1 January 2045;
• -75% from 1 January 2050.

In anticipation of the EU announcing the reference value of GHG Intensity, an attempt
has been made to quantify possible noncompliance by assuming that this value will be
90.3 grCO2eq/MJ. If no actions are taken to reduce the GHG Intensity of the fleet, based
on current fleet composition and EU trade volume, then until 2030 the average yearly
penalty per vessel per 1% noncompliance shall be on about 150.000 Euro. It must be not-
ed that the above penalties come on top of the ETS allowances that have to be bought.

Next steps

The low-hanging fruit of speed reduction will have a positive effect on emissions re-
duction. For example, a speed reduction of 0.5 knots will lead to a 5-7% reduction of
emissions based on current speed profiles. It has to be noted that the option of vol-
untary speed reduction will come at the expense of the volume of cargo that will be
transported within a year, so it is not such an easy choice.
Technical efficiency will also have to be addressed either at the construction stage of a
newbuilding or by retrofitting existing vessels. As part of its Energy Fleet Improvement
program, Minerva has retrofitted a significant number of vessels with propulsion im-
provement devices such as ducts, rudder fins, and PBCFs. We should always keep in mind
that there is a practical limit (in the order of 7-8%) to increasing the technical efficiency
of existing vessels.
For our existing vessels, we also focus on operational measures, such as real-time mon-
itoring a ship’s performance and fuel consumption; upgrading our antifouling coatings;
optimizing cleaning intervals for hulls and propellers; optimizing discharging opera-
tions, trim, and weather forecasting systems or any other area we may identify using
our advanced data analytics. The latter has resulted in improving our CII by 6% over the
last three years.

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