FuelEU Maritime Series – Part 3: Timeline

In the third instalment of our six-part series uncovering the FuelEU Maritime Regulation, we take a look at the phase-in timeline for the various regulatory obligations that begin on 1 January 2025.

TIMELINE - What is the phase-in timeline for FuelEU Maritime?

Successful compliance with the obligations under the FuelEU Maritime Regulation requires a precise understanding of its chronology. In this article, we set out a summary of the various stages of compliance.

EU Maritime Regulations

Regulation  (EU) 2023/1805

The FuelEU Maritime Regulation (the Regulation) will apply from 1 January 2025 – with the exception of Articles 8 and 9 (on monitoring plans) which started to apply from 31 August 2024.

Monitoring plan

This initial step set the process in motion. By 31 August 2024, companies were required to submit to approved verifiers of the relevant Member State a monitoring plan for each one of their vessels, with relevant information and an indication of which method (selected from the options proposed in Annex I of the Regulation) they would apply for monitoring and reporting the amount, type and emission factor of energy used.

In line with the EU ETS regime, every company, including those not registered in an EU Member State will be allocated to a corresponding “administering authority” in an EU Member State, based on the criteria outlined in article 3gf of the EU ETS Directive.

Verifiers approved by Member States are tasked with ensuring compliance with the Regulation. They must be independent and competent legal entities accredited by national accreditation bodies as per Regulation (EC) No 765/2008.

For vessels that are caught by the Regulation after 31 August 2024, they will be required to submit a monitoring plan to the verifier within two months of a first call at an EU/EEA port.

Monitoring and recording period

The monitoring and recording period covers a calendar year (Y). From 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 companies will need to monitor and record the required information for each vessel arriving at or departing from an EU/EEA port of call, and for each voyage. This process will have to be repeated on an annual basis from 1 January to 31 December.

Verification period

The verification period starts on 1 January of the year following the monitoring and recording period (Y+1). For the 2025 monitoring period, the verification period starts on 1 January 2026.

By 31 January of the verification period (Y+1), companies are to provide the verifier with a ship-specific report (the FuelEU report) containing all the required information, monitoring data and documentation for the reporting period (Y). For the 2025 monitoring period, the deadline is 31 January 2026.

By 31 March of the verification period (Y+1), the verifier will notify the company of the calculations they are required to carry out and will record in the FuelEU database the FuelEU report that complies with the Regulation, the verification report, and the relevant information. For the 2025 monitoring period, the deadline is 31 March 2026.

Additional checks by competent authority

In addition, at any time, the competent authority of the administering State may conduct additional checks for any of a company’s vessels, in relation to the two previous reporting periods (Y-1 and Y-2) of the FuelEU report, the verification report or the verifier’s calculations.

Compliance surplus

By 30 April of the verification period (Y+1), and before the issue of the Document of Compliance, the company will record the advance compliance surplus it has accumulated on its GHG intensity, following approval by its verifier, in the FuelEU database. For the 2025 monitoring period, the deadline is 30 April 2026.

Compliance balance

Before 1 May of the verification period (Y+1), the verifier will record in the FuelEU database the verified compliance balances of the vessel for GHG intensity. For the 2025 monitoring period, the date is 1 May 2026.

FuelEU penalties

Before 1 May of the verification period (Y+1), the verifier will need to record in the FuelEU database the total number of hours spent moored at quayside by the vessel in non-compliance, and by 30 June of the verification period (Y+1), the company will be required to pay an amount equal to the FuelEU penalty. For the 2025 monitoring period, the respective dates are 1 May 2026 and 30 June 2026.  We will consider the FuelEU penalty regime in a later part of this series of articles.

FuelEU Document of Compliance

The verifier will issue a FuelEU Document of Compliance for the vessel concerned, provided that the vessel does not have a compliance deficit by 30 June of the verification period (Y+1).

For non-compliant vessels, the competent authority of the administering state will do so provided that an amount equal to the FuelEU penalties has been paid. The verifier or, where applicable, the competent authority of the administering State, will record the issued FuelEU Document of Compliance in the FuelEU database without delay.

By 30 June of the verification period (Y+1), vessels will be required to hold a valid FuelEU Document of Compliance. For the 2025 monitoring period, the deadline is 30 June 2026.

The period of validity of the FuelEU Document of Compliance runs for a period of 18 months from the end of the reporting period (1 January of Y+1) to 30 June of the following year (30 June of Y+2) or until a new FuelEU Document of Compliance is issued, if this occurs earlier. The period of validity of FuelEU Document of Compliance for the 2025 monitoring period spans from 1 January 2026 to 30 June 2027.

GHG intensity limits

Article 4 of the Regulation sets out the yearly average GHG intensity of the energy used on board by a vessel during a reporting period (a calendar year) and mandates that this must not exceed the stated limits.

The limits are designed to increase periodically (every five years). They are calculated by reducing the reference value of 91.16 grammes of CO₂ equivalent per MJ by the following percentages:

• 2% from 1 January 2025
• 6% from 1 January 2030
• 14.5 % from 1 January 2035
• 31% from 1 January 2040
• ⁠62 % from 1 January 2045
• ⁠80 % from 1 January 2050

Between 2025 and 2050, the stated limits would accordingly stand at:

• 89.34      grammes of CO₂ equivalent per MJ from 1 January 2025
• 85.69      grammes of CO₂ equivalent per MJ from 1 January 2030
• 77.94      grammes of CO₂ equivalent per MJ from 1 January 2035
• 62.90      grammes of CO₂ equivalent per MJ from 1 January 2040
• 34.64     grammes of CO₂ equivalent per MJ from 1 January 2045
• 18.23     grammes of CO₂ equivalent per MJ from 1 January 2050

Annex I of the Regulation lays out in precise detail the methodology for calculating the GHG intensity of energy used on board by a vessel and expressed as the amount of GHG emissions per unit of energy (gCO2e/MJ). The “gCO₂e” reflects grammes (g) of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e) emitted per product.

It is important to note that the GHG emissions are to be calculated from well-to-wake, meaning that the emissions from the entire process, from raw material extraction, fuel elaboration, transportation, storage,  bunkering and use on board the vessel, are factored into the calculation of the yearly average GHG intensity of the energy used.

For vessels using renewable fuels of non-biological origin (RFNBOs), an incentive system has been introduced under Article 5 whereby a multiplier of 2 can be used to reward the vessel when calculating the GHG intensity of the energy used.

How this effectively translates is that every ton of RFNBOs will have their GHG emissions savings counted twice towards the GHG intensity reduction target. This incentive, meant to encourage the use of e-fuels (e.g. e-methanol produced from renewable or decarbonised energy), green hydrogen and green ammonia, will apply until 31 December 2033. The methodology is set out in Annex I also.

Use of OPS infrastructure at berth

Article 6 of the Regulation addresses the issue of zero-emission requirements for energy used by vessels at berth.

From 1 January 2030, container and passenger vessels over 5,000 GT will be required to connect to on-shore power supply (OPS) infrastructure while moored at quayside at major Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) ports^[1].

The reasoning behind this stems from an EU study which found that container and passenger vessels are the vessel categories that produce the highest amount of emissions per ship while moored at quayside.

Exceptions to this rule apply where the stay at port lasts less than two hours, the vessel uses zero-emissions technology whilst at berth, or it undertakes an emergency or unforeseen port call.

From 1 January 2035, where a quay is equipped with available OPS, container and passenger vessels over 5,000 GT will be required to connect to OPS infrastructure while moored at quayside and use it for all their electrical power demands at berth.