In a “Dear Ms. President” letter to BIMCO President Sabrina Chao, charterers say “decarbonization of shipping requires ALL stakeholders to contribute”
Some of the largest charterers of ships, most of whom additionally personal ships, have sharply criticized BIMCO’s Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) operations clause.
BIMCO’s standardized charters and clauses are one of many fundamentals of how delivery does enterprise — together with who’s answerable for what relating to complying with issues like IMO mandates — together with the CII (carbon depth index) regulation, which comes into drive on January 1, 2023.
After it takes impact, ship house owners will probably be required to report CII on an annual foundation, with every vessel receiving a grade from A to E. To commerce internationally vessels might want to carry a certificates of compliance. Owners will even need to file multi-year plans to enhance emissions on every of their ships.
BIMCO notes that the regulation was adopted on the IMO regardless of makes an attempt by the trade to level out the potential pitfalls of the CII system.
On November 16, 2022, BIMCO revealed the CII Operations Clause for Time Charter Parties after the clause was adopted by its Documentary Committee and has since initiated a strategy of gathering suggestions on its utility from members and trade stakeholders.
MAJOR CHARTERERS WRITE BIMCO
One piece of suggestions has been a letter despatched BIMCO President Sabrina Chao by a bunch of main charterers together with Maersk, CMA CGM, MSC, Trafigura and Vitol.
“This group of major charterers, the majority of which are BIMCO members and representing a substantial share of the chartering demand, believe that operational measures require close collaboration between owners and charterers,” they write. “Shifting CII requirements disproportionately to charterers is detrimental to achieving a good outcome for each individual vessel with the IMO regulation.”
The signatories say that “throughout the BIMCO process, constructive and measured proposals for amendments were made by all parties present. The aim was to secure the adoption of a clause which would strike the right balance and enhance collaboration between owners and charterers to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Unfortunately, key provisions that were proposed concerning, for example, vessel performance and maintenance were not accepted in the final text. This makes the BIMCO clause imbalanced and unusable for the members of this group and will likely lead to a wide variety of ‘home grown’ CII clauses or – to owners’ detriment – no clause being agreed.”
“Unfortunately, the BIMCO CII clause falls short of expectations,” says the letter. “Consequently, the signatories of this statement wish to continue to collaborate to develop alternative CII clauses that fairly share the responsibility for the journey towards decarbonization between owners and charterers.”
In an announcement yesterday, David Loosley, BIMCO’s Secretary General & CEO, mentioned:
“We have received constructive comments, both positive and negative, from many of our members. This insight is invaluable for already published clauses and the development of future clauses. We will continue to seek solutions to help our members operate commercially in a complex regulatory environment.”
