Circulars

Fisrt Step of EU MRV : Monitor and Report Emissions

Large ships over 5 000 gross tonnes loading /unloading cargo/ passengers from 1 January 2018 at EU maritime ports are to monitor and later report their related CO2 emissions and other relevant information in accordance with their monitoring plan.

Monitoring, reporting and verification of information shall be done in conformity with Regulation 2015/757 (as amended by Delegated Regulation 2016/2071). Three other legal acts are also relevant: Delegated Regulation 2016/20172 regarding verification and accreditation activities, Implementing Regulations 2016/1927 on templates and Implementing Regulation 2016/1928 further defining cargo carried for some ship categories.

Main obligations can be summarized are as follows:

  • By 30 August 2017, MRV companies shall submit to an accredited MRV shipping verifier a monitoring plans using a template corresponding to the model in Annex I of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1927 (for more information see also our FAQs document). Electronic templates will also be developed under THETIS MRV (the dedicated European Union information system currently under development by the European Maritime Safety Agency)
  • From 1st January 2018, MRV companies shall monitor for each of their ship CO2 emisssions, fuel consumption and other parameters, such as distance travelled, time at sea and cargo carried on a per voyage basis, so as to gather annual data into a Emissions report submitted to an accredited MRV shipping verifier;
  • From 2019, by 30 April of each year MRV companies shall submit to the Commission through THETIS MRV (a dedicated European Union information system currently under development by the European Maritime Safety Agency) a satisfactorily verified Emissions report for each of the ships having performed EEA related maritime transport in the previous reporting period (calendar year);
  • From 2019, by 30 June of each year MRV companies shall ensure that, all their ships having performed activities in the precedent reporting period and visiting EEA ports, carry on board a document of compliance issued by THETIS MRV. This obligation might be subject to inspections by Member States' authorities.

The monitoring on a per-voyage basis shall cover the following parameters:

  • Port of departure and port of arrival, including the date and hour of departure and arrival
  • Amount and emissions factor for each type of fuel consumed in total
  • CO2 emitted
  • Distance travelled
  • Time spent at sea
  • Cargo carried
  • Transport work, which is defined as: distance travelled x cargo carried

The EU MRV Regulation allows for exemption from the per-voyage monitoring when all the ship’s voyages during the reporting period either start from or end at a port under the jurisdiction of an EU Member State and the ship performs more than 300 voyages during the reporting period.  

The EU MRV Regulation applies to commercial voyages only, which means any ship that calls at an EU port to:

  • load/unload cargo, or
  • ballast voyage, or
  • embark/ disembark passengers.

EMSA has released a video explaining which voyages and in port activities shall be reported that can be found below