National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) has prepared its fleet to comply with the European Union’s (EU) shipping monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) regulation, Tasnim news agency reported citing NITC.
As informed, NITC was awarded MRV compliance certificate.
The implementation of the EU MRV is fast approaching, mandating the monitoring, reporting and verification of the CO2 emissions from ships larger than 5,000 gross tons that call at ports in the EU region.
The EU regulation entered into force on July 1, 2015 and it requires shipowners and operators to prepare a monitoring plan for each of their ships that falls under the scope of the regulation. The monitoring plan needs to be signed off by an independent verifier.
Data collection takes place on a per voyage basis and starts on January 1, 2018. It will reoccur annually, from Jan 1 to Dec 31.
According to Akbar Jabal-Ameli, NITC’s technical and operations director , cited by the agency, the company’s 41 tankers joined the scheme as part of its efforts to improve the environmental status of its fleet.
The move is in line with NITC’s substantial comeback to the European ports following lifting of sanctions against Iran in January 2016.
Earlier this year Mohammad Reza Shams Dolatabadi, NITC’s head of international affairs , said that NITC was looking into the acquisition of LNG tankers in the upcoming three to five years.
According to Dolatabadi, the company is eager to renew its fleet and is working on a five-year plan that will include purchasing of new tonnage and dismantling of outdated vessels, but without a major change to the fleet’s capacity.
World Maritime News Staff