EU MRV: Friend or Foe?

The implementation of the EU MRV is fast approaching, mandating the monitoring, reporting and verification of the CO2 emissions from ships larger than 5,000 gross tons that call at ports in the EU region.

The EU regulation entered into force on July 1, 2015 and it requires shipowners and operators to prepare a monitoring plan for each of their ships that falls under the scope of the regulation. As the monitoring plan needs to be signed off by an independent verifier it should be submitted by August 31, 2017 at the latest.

Data collection takes place on a per voyage basis and starts on January 1, 2018. It will reoccur annually, from Jan 1 to Dec 31.

World Maritime News spoke on the topic with Tim Ellis, Marketing Manager of ABB’s Digital Services, Marine & Ports which specializes in ship decision support software, remote diagnostics & analytics, to find out what can be expected from the sector and how the process can be facilitated for ship-owners.

WMN: Is the new regulation imposing additional burden to owners or would you say that it opens an opportunity for companies such as ABB to help reduce the workload of shipping companies to reach compliance with EU MRV?

Ellis: In essence the regulation indeed creates additional burden to owners. They have to make sure that they use an accredited method of reporting. So yes, it will take a lot of effort if they decide to implement the MRV scope all by themselves. We, as ABB, see ourselves as the experts in the field that also are capable of delivering a fully compliant and verified MRV reporting tool so the owners can concentrate on their core business. In addition to that, we obviously would like the crew to have access to a system that is user-friendly and with as little additional burden for them as possible.

WMN: How would you assess the response from the market with regard to provision of technical solutions/softwares aimed at facilitating the shipowners’ compliance with the regulation?

Ellis: I believe that a lot of companies that offer software solutions within the maritime industry are jumping into this new market. All of them with their own solutions. Some of them will be verified, and some will not.

Ellis spoke with WMN on the back of the certification of ABB’s MRV software by Verifavia. As informed, the comprehensive software suit named OCTOPUS is in compliance with the requirements of the Regulation (EU) N° 2015/757, the associated Delegated and Implementing Acts and the ISO IEC 25051 standard on software engineering.

“ABB unburdens shipowners and operators in this process by offering a user-friendly and fully compliant MRV tool. As a result, the advantage is two-fold. On one hand, this takes away any efforts the shipowner and operator should have to invest in the process of coming up with an accredited method of reporting. On the other hand, ABB delivers a plug-and-play MRV set-up that is ready for shipowners to comply with the EU’s emission regulations in the coming years,” he explained.

“Once the OCTOPUS MRV scope is installed, the shipowner can easily upgrade the system towards more OCTOPUS modules that can further optimize the efficiency, safety and workability of a vessel. Therefore, we like to think that this new MRV regulation should not be a burden for a shipowner, but a trigger to start to save money with smart software.”

WMN: Is the timetable for the implementation feasible, or should we expect that more time would be needed for the system to start working?

Ellis: I believe the timeline for implementation is reasonable. But for shipowners it is something new and does not really relate to the every-day and ‘normal’ business they are active in.

World Maritime News Staff