IACS’ Guidance Details Key Areas of IMO Mandatory Instrument to Aid Consistent Implementation

The mandatory nature of IMO’s Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index  means it has a significant role to play in ensuring that the industry remains on track to meet GHG reduction targets.

IACS is fully supportive of IMO’s initiatives on decarbonisation and has played an essential role in the development of EEXI by the IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) through the provision of technical comments and proposals across ten submissions relating to ship energy efficiency and carbon intensity (EEDI/EEXI/CII), four of which focus on EEXI.

In addition to its work at IMO, IACS Recommendation No. 172 (Rec.172) has been developed to support the global and consistent implementation of the newly developed EEXI IMO framework by providing additional advice and guidance on certain elements of the regulatory text where cross-industry discussions had identified technical implementation nuances associated with the EEXI framework.

Specific issues identified as needing further elaboration in Rec.172 include: the approval of the EEXI Technical File; non-overridable power limitation; EEXI calculation methodology for LNG Carriers; ship type applicability; appropriate Specific Fuel Consumption (SFC) values, and; the uniform performing & validating of numerical calculations of the EEXI reference speed (Vref).

With the amendments to MARPOL Annex VI incorporating mandatory EEXI becoming effective on 1 November 2022 and taking effect at the shipboard level on 1 January 2023, it remains vitally important for IACS to provide and maintain clarity and to allow relevant stakeholders to benefit from a common approach amongst IACS Members in the calculation of a ship’s EEXI.

IACS Secretary General, Robert Ashdown, said ‘IACS is in a unique position to assist industry in complying with complex decarbonisation regulations by providing technical guidance that can help to maintain clarity while also enabling the practical and consistent application of this index on a global scale.’

Rec.172 is just the latest expression of IACS’ ongoing commitment to supporting industry in meeting IMO’s greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets and IACS will continue to actively participate in the revision or upgrade of EEXI and Carbon Intensity Index requirements.