Effective emissions monitoring and data processing are crucial for optimising ship performance, ensuring regulatory compliance, and supporting the broader maritime industry’s decarbonisation efforts. Collaboration, transparency, and reliable data processing systems are key to ensuring that emissions data is accurate, trusted, and used to drive meaningful environmental improvements. This Article explores how ship operators and other stakeholders can work together to process and report emissions data effectively.
Effective Processing of Emissions Data
Effectively monitoring emissions requires more than just raw ship data; it requires effective data processing. Raw data alone cannot be relied upon for decision-making, and it must be processed to ensure accuracy, trust, and ease of sharing with relevant stakeholders.
The following steps are crucial to effectively process emissions data:
- Collect data from ship sensors in a structured and standardised way.
- Clean the data to remove outliers and anomalies.
- Calculate emissions. Traditionally, this has been done by back-calculating from fuel consumption, but as mentioned, this method carries a high risk of inaccuracy. Alternatively, direct emissions monitoring technologies can be deployed.
- Verify and validate the data via third parties.
- Report to regulatory bodies via the IMO DCS and/or EU MRV.
- Analyse the data to improve ship performance and reduce emissions. This could involve the application of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to understand the data.
Effective processing of emissions data enables the early detection of anomalies such as sudden increases in NOx, SOx, or CO2 emissions, fuel inefficiencies, or engine malfunctions.
Collaboration and Transparency
Sharing data and collaborating with partners is key to consistent and accurate emissions monitoring and reporting. It is a key component of effective emissions data processing.
A safe and efficient voyage is not the responsibility of a single stakeholder. The ship operator is responsible for executing a direct emissions monitoring role with the utmost safety and efficiency. Meanwhile, the owner must balance cost management to maximise profitability while ensuring crew safety and environmental protection.
A lack of transparency in emissions reporting can lead to misaligned strategies, inefficiencies, and regulatory failures. For example, CII compliance is not solely the responsibility of the shipowner. Charterers and operators also play a critical role. Since vessel efficiency is influenced by factors such as speed, cargo load, and fuel type, joint decision-making is vital. Open data exchange between stakeholders facilitates better voyage planning, optimised fuel use, and proactive emissions management.
Getting Insured: Why Transparency is Key
The transparency and accuracy of emissions data are essential for both policymakers and the insurance industry. Insurance companies depend on reliable engine and fuel data to assess vessel risk profiles, predict potential mechanical failures, and evaluate claims. According to Frédéric Denèfle, President of IUMI, decarbonisation will challenge marine underwriters in three key ways:
- Understanding and insuring new risks emerging from new propulsion technologies.
- Recognising the risks associated with carrying new types of “cleaner” cargoes, such as lithium-ion batteries, in greater numbers.
- Providing adequate cover to help de-risk increasingly erratic weather events.
Accurate emissions data is therefore invaluable to insurers, helping them understand and de-risk decarbonisation efforts made by shipping companies. According to the Poseidon Principles, robust data collection and a collaborative approach are essential for insuring new technologies and fuels that carry some level of uncertainty.
28 ABS (accessed Jan, 2025) Vessel Performance Technical Solutions for Operational Challenges
29 Gard (Nov, 2022) The challenges of CII compliance – Cooperation is key
30 Lloyd’s List Intelligence (accessed Jan, 2025) Engine and fuel data plays an increasingly vital role in maritime decision-making
31 Poseidon Principles (Jan, 2024) Poseidon Principles for marine insurance: 2023 annual disclosure report
For a more detailed understanding and exploration of the topics covered in this article, refer to our report, Transforming Maritime Operations: Unlocking Accurate Data for Sustainability and Compliance, commissioned by SailPlan.
