SIX OF the most significant shipping associations in the world have released a joint announcement calling for changes to the Carbon Intensity Indicator introduced by the International Maritime Organization.
The combined announcement from Bimco, CLIA, ICS, Intercargo, INTERMANAGER, and INTERTANKO called on the IMO to address and amend “inadequacies” identified in the current indicator scheme.
The CII, which came into effect on 1 January, 2023, is characterized as counter-productive to the goal of lowering greenhouse gas emissions in shipping by the peak bodies.
The organisations contend that ships are penalised for factors like time spent at port, despite this often being outside the control of the vessel, and that the current metric penalises vessels ships carrying cargo, effectively favouring empty ships.
They argue that under the current CII metric, the ship with the best Annual Efficiency Ratio is a ship always trading in ballast condition without any cargo onboard.
The joint statement comes after the release of initial CII ratings delivered from flag states to shipowners, as industry argues the CII’s current metric does not reflect the actual efficiency of each ship.
The six associations are calling for the IMO to amend the scheme at the Marine Environment Protection Committee’s 82nd session in September this year.
At the most recent MEPC session in March this year, the IMO acknowledged certain shortcomings of the CII: “Possibly inaccurate or misleading CII ratings could result in unintended adverse consequences for some ships, particularly with respect to business critical decisions made by the finance, insurance, chartering, brokering and port sectors.”
The peak bodies have further called for public administrations, flag states, ports, and destinations to acknowledge that the current CII system has inherent shortcomings recognised by the IMO, and may not accurately reflect the true environmental performance of ships.
Some analysts believe the current CII scheme will likely put more pressure on the feeder industry and drive more-polluting road transport.
Peter Sand, chief analyst from Xeneta anticipates this will trigger more scrapping in the smaller-size ranges and incentivise a switch to more-polluting road transport.
Mr Sand anticipates “a situation in which carriers move their feeder ships onto longer trades a few times a year to improve their score, adjusting their offerings and, potentially, stopping a certain number of port calls, especially in the ports where carriers know waiting times are consistently long”.
The joint release did appear to take on a positive tone regarding the future of the CII, stating, “The shipping industry will be part of the solution to these issues and we look forward to the commencement of the CII review process at the MEPC in September 2024 and continuing through December 2025.
“We will propose revisions to the current CII methodology and formula that will provide a better indicator of a ship’s actual efficiency.”
