The International Maritime Organization is a United Nations agency which focuses on the safety of ships and the prevention of pollution in the sea. While its main motive is to ensure the safety, protection and environmental performance of the shipping industry, it also covers all aspects of the shipping industry including ship design, construction, equipment, manning, operation and disposal.

10 to 17 June 2021 saw the formation of new amendments in the IMO to reduce and regulate carbon emissions by the ships. The Marine Environment Protection Centre conducted a meeting further adopting new measures into MARPOL Annex VI requiring ships to calculate their EEXI and establish a CII rating. These amendments are expected to enter into force by 1 November 2021 and will come into effect from 1 January 2023.

The Energy Efficiency existing ship Index, Energy Efficiency Design Index and Carbon Intensity Indicator are the three most important pillars of the International Maritime Organization designed to contribute towards a decarbonized shipping industry. These are three of the most significant measures made by the IMO to promote more environmentally friendly technologies to reduce the shipping industry’s carbon footprint. Given below is a detailed breakdown of these three factors, what they are and how they coincide with our aim at Oceanix as a Vessel Performance Analytics Platform.

The Energy Efficiency existing ship Index indicates the energy efficiency of the ship compared to a baseline existing ship index based on an applicable reduction factor expressed as a percentage relative to the energy efficiency design index baseline. The calculated EEXI for each individual ship must be below the required EEXI to ensure that the ship meets a minimum energy efficiency standard.

While the EEXI is measured for existing ships in the industry, the IMO released the EEDI – Energy Efficiency Design Index on Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan for all ships at MEPC 62 (July 2011) with the adoption of amendments to MARPOL Annex VI making it mandatory for all the new ships in the industry. It is one of the most technical measures and aims at promoting the use of more energy-efficient equipment and engines. While EEDI and EEXI measure the same in practice, EEDI is applied to new ships while EEXI is for existing ships in the industry.

These new measures require the ships to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases by calculating the EEXI following technical means to improve their efficiency and to establish the annual operation CII. During this process, the ship’s owners will have to find out their Annual Operational Carbon Intensity Indicator and find out the CII rating according to which they will be ranked into different grades between A to E. While any degree between A to C is good if a ship maintains a grade of D or E for three consecutive years it will be required to take corrective action in order to bring the rating up.

Our vision as a Vessel Performance Analytics Platform is to help decarbonize marine transportation through data-driven decision-making. We work closely with the IMO’s vision to move shipping towards carbon neutrality by deploying analytical tools that help calculate, understand and reduce various emissions by improving efficiencies.