Does FuelEU Maritime apply to livestock carriers (> 5,000 gt)?

Decarbonization
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I get conflicting information about the inclusion of livestock carriers in MRV (and therefore in FuelEU Maritime). EU seems to have adopted the same definition of general cargo ships which excludes livestock carriers, heavy load carriers, amongst others.

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Hello @Plimsoll and Happy New Year! :fireworks:

Following the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1928 on determination of cargo carried, which is still in force, the definition of ‘General cargo ship’ is as follows.

General cargo ship means a ship with a multi-deck or single-deck hull designed primarily for the carriage of general cargo excluding specialized dry cargo ships, which are not included in the calculation of reference lines for general cargo ships, namely livestock carrier, barge carrier, heavy load carrier, yacht carrier, nuclear fuel carrier.

However, it would not be surprising if the scope of the application expands, especially considering that, starting January 1, 2025, the EU MRV Regulation will also encounter general cargo ships with a gross tonnage between 400 and 5,000 (Regulation (EU) 2023/957). Still, I understand that in order to facilitate such expansion, relevant reference lines should be developed first.

References:

  1. CELEX_32016R1928_EN_TXT.pdf (324.0 KB)
  2. CELEX_32023R0957_EN_TXT (1).pdf (478.1 KB)
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Thanks, Stela. Do you perhaps know if livestock carriers should then be reported as “Other Ship Types” in MRV.

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Hi @Plimsoll,

I read Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1928, paragraph 7, the following:

For other ship types not falling under any of the below categories

  • oil tankers
  • chemical tankers
  • LNG carriers
  • gas carriers
  • bulk carriers
  • general cargo ships
  • refrigerated cargo ships
  • vehicle carriers
  • combination carriers
  • ro-pax ships

nor under those in points (d), (e) and (f) of paragraph 1 of Part A of Annex II to Regulation (EU) 2015/757,

  • for passenger ships
  • ro-ro ships
  • container ships

a flexible approach should be permitted so as to fully reflect the diversity of ships carrying very different types of cargo.

In order to ensure consistency and comparability of data over time in accordance with Article 4(3) of Regulation (EU) 2015/757, the company’s choice concerning the most appropriate cargo carried parameter is to be documented in the ship’s monitoring plan and applied accordingly.

Additionally, I went through the public MRV data from the past four years and found that there are indeed a limited number of livestock carriers reported under the “Other ship types” category, with fewer than 20 vessels per year, verified by a total of five different verifiers.

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Having reviewed the details, I now have a better understanding of the reporting requirements for livestock carriers under the EU MRV regulation.

Based on the information provided, it might be the case that the smaller livestock carriers with a gross tonnage between 400 and 5,000 should be reported as “Other ship types” starting January 1, 2025. This is because livestock carriers are considered a subcategory of “General Cargo Ships,” and the amended EU MRV regulation will now cover general cargo vessels in this size range.