The Marine Environment Protection Committee, at its fifty-ninth session (13 to 17 July 2009), recognizing the need to develop management tools to assist a shipping company in managing the environmental performance of its ships, agreed to circulate the Guidance for the development of a ship energy efficiency management plan, as set out in the MEPC.1_Circ.683

Amendments to MARPOL Annex VI making the “Energy Efficiency Design Index” (EEDI)*1) and the “Ship Efficiency Management Plan” (SEEMP)*2) mandatory were adopted at the 62nd session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 62) held in July 2011, and will become effective from 1 January 2013.

The amendments to MARPOL Annex VI Regulations for the prevention of air pollution from ships, add a new chapter 4 to Annex VI on Regulations on energy efficiency for ships to make mandatory the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI), for new ships, and the Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP) for all ships. Other amendments to Annex VI add new definitions and the requirements for survey and certification, including the format for the International Energy Efficiency Certificate.

The regulations apply to all ships of 400 gross tonnage and above and are expected to enter into force on 1 January 2013.

However, under regulation 19, the Administration may waive the requirement for new ships of 400 gross tonnage and above from complying with the EEDI requirements. This waiver may not be applied to ships above 400 gross tonnage for which the building contract is placed four years after the entry into force date of chapter 4; the keel of which is laid or which is at a similar stage of construction four years and six months after the entry into force; the delivery of which is after six years and six months after the entry into force; or in cases of the major conversion of a new or existing ship, four years after the entry into force date.

The EEDI is a non-prescriptive, performance-based mechanism that leaves the choice of technologies to use in a specific ship design to the industry. As long as the required energy-efficiency level is attained, ship designers and builders would be free to use the most cost-efficient solutions for the ship to comply with the regulations.

The SEEMP establishes a mechanism for operators to improve the energy efficiency of ships.

Summary of MEPC 62 outcomes

Amendments to MARPOL Annex VI were adopted that make the EEDI and SEEMP mandatory. A brief outline of the amendments is given below.

(a) The Attained EEDI of each new ship for which the building contract order is placed on or after 1 January 2013 (in the absence of a building contract, the keel of which is laid or which is at a similar stage of construction on or after 1 July 2013) or the delivery of which is on or after 1 July 2015, is to comply with the EEDI limit value specified based on the EEDI reference line† for each type of ship in cases where the deadweight exceeds a certain value. However, the Administration may waive this requirement up to four years. The EEDI limit values will become more stringent in a step by step manner from 1 January 2015 by introducing a specified reduction rate from the EEDI reference line. † The EEDI reference line is the average line of the EEDI determined for existing ships of the same type expressed by an exponential function of the deadweight calculated by the IMO by using data on ships built during the ten year period from 1999 to 2008.

(b) All ships (both new and existing ships) with a gross tonnage of 400 tons or above will be required to retain a SEEMP onboard on or after 1 January 2013.