Interferry, the international association of airlines shipping companies operating ferry fleets, welcomed the new rules agreed last week at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) for the reduction of gas emissions greenhouse produced by ships, measures that the association has defined today as of historical significance ( of the 11th April 2025). However, if Interferry has declared itself very pleased that the Member States of the IMO have reached an agreement, so that operators can have a basis for for their investment decisions', the Director of Regulatory Affairs of the association, Johan Roos, specified that "this agreement is better than no other agreement, but if I had had the choice - he said - I would have opted for something simpler. We can already see how the operators face difficulties with reporting for the carbon intensity requirements of the FuelEU Maritime programme - he explained - and this IMO scheme promises to be even more complicated, and unfortunately not aligned with FuelEU'.

Interferry illustrated the complexity of the new shipping decarbonisation strategy which - he recalled - is was defined after more than 15 years of discussions. The association has explained that, under a new instrument called Global Fuel Standard introduced in Annex VI of the IMO MAPROL, ships will have to reduce their greenhouse gas intensity over time annual production from fuel (Gas Fuel Intensity - GFI). Traditionally, the reduction of the fuel quantity was the main approach to pursue the reduction of greenhouse gases, but the GFI obliges rather the operator of a vessel that operates internationally reduce the average carbon content of the energy used for propulsion of the ship or for any auxiliary service (production of electricity for the ship's needs, etc.)

Starting from 2028 - Interferry also explained - ships will have to compare their individual annual GFI, comparing it with the global average of 2008 (IMO base year, whose value is almost unchanged in 2024), which is

Year	Base target	Direct compliance
2028	4,00%	17,00%
2029	6,00%	19,00%
2030	8,00%	21,00%
2031	12,00%	25,00%
2032	17,00%	30,00%
2033	21,00%	34,00%
2034	26,00%	39,00%
2035	30,00%	43,00%

stands at 93.3 gCO2eq/MJ. This unit of measurement is intended in grams of CO2 equivalent per mega-joule of energy used at edge. These emission values will also have to take into account the emissions from the production of the fuel, i.e. the so-called "well-to-wake" approach, which - noted the association - will add a layer of complex assessments and, ultimately, guidelines on which CO2 equivalent values to the different fuels. There are forces at play - he observed Interferry referring to positions repeatedly expressed by various environmental associations including the European Transport & Environment - which aim to minimise eligibility the use of biofuels for compliance purposes, thus directing the sector directly towards fuels Electric. As part of the compliance mechanism for the GFI, ships are compared with two different curves, which can be roughly related to ambition levels declared by the IMO for greenhouse gas emissions compared to 2008, as agreed in the 2023 IMO Greenhouse Gas Strategy, expressed such as the less ambitious "baseline targets" reductions absolute emissions and the most ambitious emission requirements reduction of "direct compliance".

These two curves - specified the association - play a role in the key role in the compliance strategy for operators Naval. For every tonne of CO2eq emitted beyond the target of the operator (Ship A in the graph) is required to purchase a "Remedial Unit" at a price of 380 dollars/ton of CO2eq. In addition, for every tonne of CO2eq emitted beyond the level of "direct compliance", the operator (both Ship A and Ship B in the graph) must purchase a "Remedial Unit" at a price of 100 dollars/ton of CO2eq. With increasingly stringent reduction factors on an annual basis - has Interferry detected - costs for remedial units will soon be very high. To avoid paying these costs, the operator may instead buy fuels with low emission of carbon.

This mechanism - underlined the association - aims to make non-green fuels significantly more stimulating the market for clean fuels. Finally, the ships that will exceed the most demanding intensity requirements stringent (Ship C in the graph) will generate "Surplus Units" which can be used to compensate other ships of the fleet (Ship A) or accumulated for the future.

In order to promote the ecological transition, part of the revenues of the remedials units will be managed by the "IMO Net-Zero Fund" which, among other objectives, it will facilitate the adoption of technologies, fuels and/or energy sources with greenhouse gas emissions of zero and close to zero.

MEPC 83 - recalled Interferry referring to last week's meeting of the Marine Environment Protection Committee of the IMO which has reached the agreement - also considered proposals for a long time debates to supplement the GFI with a fixed tax for each ton of fuel purchased, raising funds for a comprehensive IMO system to financially support certain categories of developing countries. Despite strong dissent of several countries - the association specified - this proposal does not has gained sufficient support, which has partly triggered a voting procedure for the agreement on the GFI. It is predictable - Interferry noted - that some countries contest the agreement during the next session in October, probably requiring a second round of voting for the adoption of this new instrument.

In conclusion, Interferry nevertheless considers the agreed strategy from the MEPC too complex: "we already find that the operators face difficulties with reporting for the carbon intensity requirements of the FuelEU Maritime programme - Roos highlighted - and this scheme IMO it promises to be even more complicated, and unfortunately not aligned with FuelEU".

If the vast majority of shipowners' associations national teams, with a few exceptions, did not express itself on the agreement reached on Friday by the MEPC, to demonstrate perplexity about the proposed measures was the Greek Union of Greek Shipowners (UGS) which noted that "the fact that this agreement is based on a simple majority of 63 states members, with several nations expressing reservations, raises particular concerns about the realism of the objectives Pursued. In an effort to reconcile conflicting interests and different priorities of groups of Member States of the organization - observed the Greek association - the agreement contains both positive and problematic elements". "We welcome - explained the president of the UGS, Melina Travlos - the positive aspects of the IMO agreement, including the recognition of the polluter pays principle and the Shifting compliance costs to the operator commercial ship. However, the failure to recognise the essential role of transition fuels, such as gas liquefied natural nature, compromises the investments made and the efforts made of the sector to abandon coal. In any case - he assured Travlos - Greek shipping will continue to engage in the path to decarbonise our sector, paving the way the adoption of adequate, feasible but above all realistic".