British shipowners invite you to take advantage of the experience they have the application of the European Union rules for the decarbonisation of maritime transport and not to commit those who believe there were errors in the definition and implementation EU legislation. The call comes today from the UK Chamber of Shipping, which represents the interests of shipping industry and the entire maritime sector of the United Kingdom, on the basis of the document "Designing a Workable UK Maritime Fuel Standard", published by the organisation, which collects the lessons learned from the application of the regulation European FuelEU Maritime which has been in force since January 1, 2025 ( of 25 July 2023). The text aims to guide the work of the Department of Transport London on the national standard on marine fuels. The standard had been proposed in the Maritime Decarbonisation Strategy of March 2025, and the consultation is Expected by the end of 2026 ( of 25 March 2025).

Presenting the document, the association warned First of all, that the success of a rule depends on its practical applicability, as well as the ambition of the objectives. "Regulation - said Peter Aylott, Director of Policy of the UK Chamber of Shipping - will have success only if it is practical, proportionate and aligned with international level".

The document emphasizes that a fuel standard is Something different from an emissions trading system: regulates fuel choices, certification, methodologies life cycle calculations, pooling mechanisms and conformity. It also affects, indirectly, the relationships contractual agreements between the parties. This is why the European FuelEU regulation required much greater operational and administrative changes EU ETS, the EU's emissions trading system European.

According to the British study, shipowners are largely managed to comply with the rules, but the load was higher than expectations of industry and regulators. Some deadlines have not been met, including by bona fide and operationally compliant operators, and penalties have probably been mitigated or avoided because the The European Commission and some Member States have adopted a flexible approach.

The document lists several issues implemented with the implementation of FuelEU, starting with the whose format was published on 26 July 2024, just over a month before the delivery deadline of 31 August. In addition, THETIS, the EU's European Platform on where shipowners upload and manage compliance data, was still under development while it was already being used for verifications, with calculation errors that emerged during the work. As for the annual calculation, operators and verifiers obtained results different for very similar scenarios, and the industry guide is arrived only in mid-2025. In addition, for pooling, the voluntary mechanism for pooling the balances of environmental compliance of two or more ships, were not procedures for reopening a pool in the event of an error, and a correction on a ship's data - the document notes - can force the entire pool to be re-verified. Finally, it was not clear where to send the data by January 31st, and many have sent them to the verifier, as for the MRV/ETS, the two regulatory instruments for measuring and reducing emissions from ships through a system of emission allowances, while the authorities then specified which were also to be included in THETIS.

The second front concerns infrastructure. According to the study It is not clear how the current British system of monitoring, the METS, designed to be managed at the level of shipping company, can support a regime that allows the free pooling between ships and operators and requires emission factors well-to-tank. The UK Chamber of Shipping calls for a system of monitoring, reporting and verification active at least one year in advance entry into force of the standard, and also calls for the completed at least one full reporting cycle before of the initiation of obligations.

As regards fuel certification, the United Kingdom has not access to the European Union Database (UDB), and there is no an equivalent global system. The association's document British is therefore calling for a fuel-neutral system and technologies and aligned with the framework of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) on certification and life cycle analysis. It also calls for the recognition of mass balancing, the system of traceability that allows you to mix fuels sustainable and conventional while maintaining a verifiable quantities and characteristics of the different products, and therefore allows you to follow the fuel within a certified physical supply chain, and the recognition of the book-and-claim, the system that allows a Company to purchase certificates related to benefits sustainable fuel and which is currently not recognized as an autonomous method of certification of fuels for the purposes of compliance with the FuelEU Regulation Maritime. The association also calls for a digital database dedicated.

The document then dwells on the risk of double reporting. The future British standard would be close to the FuelEU Maritime, which applies to 100% of the energy used in the between ports in the European Union and 50% of the energy used on journeys between a European port and one of a non-EU country. For this the Chamber proposes a future British standard on designed according to the principle of making a single communication and use the data multiple times. To association, alignment with the IMO and regional requirements already existing will be essential to avoid duplication, double counting, double financial exposure, and unintentional distortions of competition. It also calls for align derogations and exemptions with European ones, carefully to essential ferries and Ice Class ships.

The document then notes that, on the trajectory of reduction of ship emissions, the FuelEU Regulation has created a signal of long-term demand, but objectives that - he observes - exceed the availability of compliant fuels and risk produce distortions instead of real reductions. The study cited changes in sea routes, marketing strategies and refueling and port calls. For the association, Targets that are too low, on the other hand, only lead to bureaucracy without benefits. The UK Chamber of Shipping therefore proposes a gradual start with progressive growth and, in the absence of a trajectory defined at the IMO, FuelEU as a reference provisional.

In this regard, the British document indicates flexibility as one of the strengths of the European regulation, which in practice allows you to meet the annual target, to use banking, borrowing and pooling, i.e. the three flexibility mechanisms of the Regulation allowing shipping companies to manage compliance with intensity reduction targets of the energy used on board, or to pay the penalties. The study specifies that, according to what was disclosed by the EU's DG MOVE, in the first year only 2% of respondents paid penalties. The Chamber calls for equivalent mechanisms fin from the outset, supported by robust databases and guidelines, with sharing aggregated or anonymized data so as not to expose the commercial strategies.

Finally, the UK Chamber coordinated a review of the model of the Department for Transport's maritime emissions, comparing it with three other models, and asks to involve the industry on assumptions before using it to fix the trajectories. It also offers annual public reports on penalties, compliance rates and fuel availability, a five-year audit and a statutory review within 12 months adoption of the IMO global standard.