New BIMCO Clause on FuelEU Maritime

The aim of the new BIMCO clause is to provide the parties with different options for complying with the FuelEU Maritime Regulation, which will come into force in less than one month.

As Nicholas Fell, Chair of BIMCO’s Documentary Committee stated “The FuelEU Maritime regulation will significantly impact the shipping industry, even more so than the EU Emissions Trading System. The clause we have adopted today is the result of a collaborative process between owners, charterers, P&I and legal experts and other stakeholders”.

From 1 January 2025, the FuelEU Maritime Regulation will apply to all ships of 5,000 GT and above calling at EU ports, regardless of their flag. Ships engaged in voyages between two EU ports or between an EU port and a third country, will be captured by the regulation, as they are with the EU ETS.

The BIMCO subcommittee aspired to develop a standard clause that is workable for most scenarios and commercial relationships. Under the clause, for longer period charter parties, the charterers will have the flexibility to decide on their compliance strategy whether that be from bunkering lower emission fuels or utilizing pooling, banking or borrowing.

BIMCO has published a suite of Explanatory Notes to provide examples and scenarios of, inter alia, calculating the “aggregated Compliance Balance” and the pooling allocation.