Following the completion of the first FuelEU Maritime compliance cycle, KICKSTER reported strong growth in marketplace participation, increasing open interest, and the emergence of early pricing signals that may shape the future development of the FuelEU pooling market.

Introduced in 2025, the EU’s FuelEU Maritime Regulation aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the shipping sector by limiting the carbon intensity of energy used by vessels operating in European waters. Among the regulation’s flexibility mechanisms, pooling has rapidly emerged as one of the most effective tools for managing compliance costs.

Pooling enables vessels that outperform emissions targets to generate surplus compliance units, which can then be transferred to underperforming vessels within a compliance pool. This creates a market-driven mechanism that optimizes compliance costs while incentivizing operational efficiency and lower-emission fuel adoption.

With the conclusion of the first compliance period in April 2026, early market data points to a rapidly evolving compliance landscape characterized by growing market participation, increasing liquidity, and changing pricing dynamics.

“The adoption of the marketplace has exceeded all expectations,” said KICKSTER. “In just a few weeks, and with only a limited marketing campaign focused on selected European countries, we onboarded more than 100 companies representing over 500 vessels. Interest has continued to grow steadily, with a new peak immediately following the end of the compliance period.”

KICKSTER also confirmed that all transactions executed through the platform during the first compliance cycle were successfully settled through THETIS-MRV, with all compliance pools duly verified.

The marketplace is already showing strong momentum for the 2026 compliance year, with more than 20,000 tons of open interest currently visible on the platform with asking prices well below the lowest values traded for 2025, suggesting increasing seller pressure and relatively limited buyer engagement entering the second quarter of the year. The trend is confirmed also by OTC transactions with price around 130-140,00 €/MT and some tentative trading around 100,00 €/MT.

According to KICKSTER, pooling prices are influenced by several variables, including fuel carbon intensity, vessel efficiency, fuel availability, and the level of regulatory penalties. As the market matures, the company believes that more sophisticated trading instruments and enhanced transparency will become increasingly important.

“New trading instruments can support companies in choosing pooling as a flexible compliance mechanism, provided that the market offers transparency, risk mitigation, and multiple trading options,” KICKSTER stated.

To support the next phase of market development, KICKSTER announced ongoing work on several strategic initiatives, including:

standardization of FuelEU pooling contracts;
development of de-risking insurance solutions;
introduction of tradable compliance options
expansion of automated contractual workflows
The company has also launched a broader stakeholder engagement initiative aimed at gathering insights and feedback from both marketplace participants and non-participants to help shape future platform developments.

At the same time, KICKSTER is closely monitoring developments within the IMO’s Net-Zero Framework (NZF), including the upcoming intersessional meetings scheduled for September and ahead of MEPC 85 in December, where the framework is expected to move toward formal adoption.

“As support for the IMO Net-Zero Framework continues to grow among member states, it will become increasingly important to understand how the Global Fuel Standard (GFS) will interact with the FuelEU Maritime Regulation and how these mechanisms will collectively accelerate emissions reductions across the shipping industry,” the company added.

Source: KICKSTER Group