Russia and Finland have similar positions on double control of fuel used by vessels
Russia and Finland have similar positions on double control of fuel used by vessels under EU MRV and IMO regulations. According to IAA PortNews correspondent, that was announced at the 38th meeting of Russian-Finnish Mixed Commission on Maritime Shipping (Saint-Petersburg, 11 December 2017) by Risto Murto, Co-chair on the Finnish side, Director of Unit, the Ministry of Transport and Communications. “Our position is very similar to yours”, he said.
When speaking at the meeting, Vitaly Klyuyev, Co-chair on the Russian side, Director of RF Transport Ministry's Department of State Policy for Maritime and River Transport, emphasized that EU decision to monitor ships’ fuel consumption and CO2 emissions from 1 January 2018 (entered into force in 2015) is a “decision of regional character on a global issue”. Similar requirement is foreseen by IMO documents from 1 January 2019. “IMO is a body to make decisions on GHG emissions from ships and IMO should be the only body to make such decisions in respect of ships because shipping is global”, he said adding that the positions of Russia and Finland on this issue are similar.
EU MRV Regulation comes into effect one year earlier and, according to the Russian side, has a number of excessive requirements as regards commercial sensitivity.
EU MRV Regulation covers more detailed information as compared with IMO regulations. Data required by EU MRV Regulation cannot have any significant impact on general СО2 emissions per ship owner or per country. Apart from the ports of departure and the ports of call, the report should contain information about actual cargo shipping. All information about vessels and companies will then be publicly available. That can cause infringement of companies’ interests.
The Russian side sees it reasonable to decrease the load on ship owners and protect their commercial interests through introduction of a common international standard for collection of data on СО2 emissions from ships (it can be an IMO DCS standard).
