UK shipowners warn against copying FuelEU red tape

The UK Chamber of Shipping has urged the British government to avoid repeating the compliance problems encountered under FuelEU Maritime as it prepares to introduce its own maritime fuel standard.

In a policy paper published this week, the industry body warned that the EU regime, which came into force in January 2025, had imposed a substantially greater administrative workload on shipowners and regulators than initially anticipated.

The 22-page report identifies difficulties with reporting deadlines, fuel certification, emissions calculations and compliance pooling arrangements. Some operators missed deadlines despite meeting their operational obligations, while inconsistencies between verification systems created additional work.

The Chamber wants the UK government to establish a fully tested ship-level monitoring and reporting system before introducing compliance obligations.

It is also pushing for fuel-neutral regulation, realistic emissions targets based on fuel availability and infrastructure readiness, and flexibility for owners and operators to meet their obligations without unnecessary commercial disruption.

Peter Aylott, the Chamber’s director of policy, said the government had an opportunity to learn from the EU’s experience rather than create another regulatory system that increased costs and complexity.

The paper also calls for close alignment with emerging International Maritime Organization requirements to avoid duplicate certification, reporting and verification obligations.

The intervention comes as the Department for Transport prepares to consult on a domestic maritime fuel standard, with the consultation expected later this year.

Britain’s maritime decarbonisation strategy, unveiled in March 2025, targets a 30% reduction in domestic shipping’s lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, rising to 80% by 2040 and zero by 2050, against a 2008 baseline.

The government has identified fuel regulation and emissions pricing as central measures for meeting those targets.

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