The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has announced the enhancement of its data reference model within the IMO Compendium on Facilitation and Electronic Business.
It follows the recent 49th meeting of the Facilitation Committee (FAL 49), which introduced a series of standardised emissions reporting data fields for the first time.
Go deeper with GlobalData
The newly established ‘Fuel oil consumption and CII reporting dataset’ comprises more than 140 data fields aimed at fulfilling environmental reporting obligations.
As part of the updates from FAL 49, the majority of these fields were added by the IMO’s Expert Group on Data Harmonisation (EGDH).
The objective of these additions is to simplify emissions reporting and aid vessel operators in complying with regulatory frameworks.
This initiative stems from a year-long collaborative effort involving members of the Smart Maritime Council, including Lloyd’s Register, ABS, Bureau Veritas, ClassNK, and DNV.
Furthermore, these classification societies worked alongside BIMCO, the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS), and Energy LEAP to establish new standards for emissions data reporting.
The classification societies will serve as “Accredited Verifiers” for emissions reporting, and the development of a unified standardised list of data points aims to meet the data requirements of all participating classification societies.
This standardisation is expected to facilitate widespread use in various maritime emissions reporting processes.
Smart Maritime Council chairman Rob O’Dwyer said: “The introduction of these emissions data standards by IMO creates huge opportunity for the industry to streamline the collection and exchange of vessel operational data required for mandatory reporting, and to significantly improve the quality of the information collected.”
The collaborative effort resulted in the creation of a comprehensive list of data fields that address the mandatory reporting requirements of existing and forthcoming emissions regulations.
These regulations include the IMO Data Collection System (DCS), the EU Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV), the Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII), and FuelEU Maritime.
Following the completion of FAL 49, BIMCO and IACS submitted the combined standardised dataset from the classification societies to the IMO for inclusion in the IMO Compendium.
BIMCO chief naval architect Jeppe Skovbakke Juhl said: “To enable the shipping industry to achieve net-zero GHG emissions by 2050, we must prioritise the standardisation and harmonisation of our data collection processes for fuel oil consumption and CII reporting, as these are important parts of the verification process.”
In July 2024, the IMO announced that it is seeking expressions of interest for National Action Plan support under the GreenVoyage2050 programme to help developing countries track emissions and advance shipping decarbonisation.
