Five Shipping Majors Opt for Verifavia to Achieve MRV Compliance

Five shipping companies have hired Verifavia Shipping, the French emissions verification company for the transport sector, to perform a pre-verification gap analysis against the European Commission’s (EC) Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) rules.

Namely, DFDS Seaways, Euronav Ship Management, NEDA Maritime Agency, Seaspan Ship Management and Synergy Maritime, have appointed Verifavia to assess their organisations for MRV readiness.

As part of the audit, the company will assess the existing data accounting procedures and systems against the requirements of the Shipping MRV Regulation to identify any potential issues and non-compliance. In addition, Verifavia will also review each company’s voyages, fuel and cargo data collection, and transmission and transformation procedures, and perform preliminary analysis of carbon emissions and activity data. The shipping company’s operational documentation is also reviewed to determine if it contains sufficient details for the implementation of the allowed fuel consumption monitoring methods.

Julien Dufour, CEO, of Verifavia, said that “MRV is new to the shipping industry, which is why we are committed to sharing information and partnering with ship owners, operators and managers to help them navigate MRV compliance efficiently and effectively. At present, we are providing pre-verification gap analysis to support shipping companies in becoming MRV ready.”

MRV Regulation 2015/757 came into force on July 1, 2015 and is viewed as a first step towards cutting CO2 emissions from maritime transport in the European Union (EU). From 2018, it will require operators of ships exceeding 5,000 GT to monitor, report and submit their independently verified carbon emissions on all voyages to, from and between EU ports. The benefit of the pre-verification gap analysis is that, if carried out early, it can identify any compliance and system design issues, enabling correction by the shipping company in a timely manner.

“The EU’s MRV regulation is now in force and we believe that it is time for the industry to accept that and take proactive measures to understand how we meet the requirements. With Verifavia Shipping, we have engaged with an experienced, independent verifier who is able to accurately identify any gaps in our ability to achieve compliance as we proactively analyse our process and procedures ahead of time,” Panos Deligiannis, Technical Manager, NEDA Maritime Agency, explained.

The accreditation process is not yet open to potential verifiers of maritime transport. Verifavia said that it will apply to UKAS for accreditation, but in the meantime, the company is performing pre-verification gap analysis audits as well as independent carbon emissions verification for shipping companies for trial purposes and on an informal basis.