Verifavia Shipping cements leadership position for EU MRV and IMO DCS IT system certification

Verifavia, the world’s leading emissions verification company for the transport sector (aviation and shipping), today announced continuing success in the independent certification of IT systems and solutions designed to support compliance with the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) Data Collection System (DCS) regulation and European Union (EU) Monitoring Reporting and Verification (MRV). With both regulations now in force, increasing numbers of IT systems are available to assist ship owners and operators in collating and reporting emissions data, all of which need to strictly adhere to the relevant legal requirements. More than 30 of these systems have now been certified or are currently undergoing certification by Verifavia.
 
January 2019 marks a year since the EU MRV initial reporting period commenced on 1st January 2018, and the start of IMO DCS requirements, whereby ships of 5,000 GT and above must begin collecting and reporting data to an IMO database. With multiple IT systems on offer aiming to simplify data input and automate the calculation of emission and efficiency data, as well as reporting, owners and operators need assurance of their ability to accurately and transparently support compliance.
 
Julien Dufour, CEO, Verifavia Shipping, commented: “Many shipping companies are choosing to streamline both the EU MRV and IMO DCS compliance processes, which is why there are so many IT systems available to support this. What’s essential, however, is that owners and operators have the confidence that the system they choose is fit for purpose in optimising fleet-wide reporting for compliance while minimising effort, resource and costs.”
 
Verifavia has certified, or is currently certifying, 30 IT compliance systems for organisations including Bassnet, Coach, Danaos, Dynamarine, Emerson, Enerforce, Eniram, GAC SMHI Weather Solutions,
 
Hoglund Marine Automation, Krohne Marine, Kyla, Marorka, Navis, Pole Star, Power Instrument, Shipnet, SpecTec, StormGeo, TresSolutions, VAF Instruments, Veinland, Vertex, We4Sea, X-Press Feeders and XShip. It has also certified the IT Systems of two of the world’s largest ship managers; Wallem Ship Management in Hong Kong and Zeaborn Ship Management in Hamburg (a consolidation of E.R. Schiffahrt and Rickmers Shipmanagement), which it also conducts EU MRV and IMO DCS verification services for.
 
The certification process is conducted by Verifavia’s experts against the requirements of the Regulation 2015/757 (for EU MRV) and MARPOL Annex VI, Regulation 22A (for IMO DCS), as well as all relevant acts and guidelines in terms of process and functionality. The ISO standards 25051 on software engineering and 17065 on product certification are also considered.
 
Verifavia’s next training course will be held in Singapore on 16-17 January in collaboration with ISF Group. The two-day course has been developed for superintendents, vessel managers and technical supervisors, to ensure they have a complete understanding and practical know how to accurately implement these regulations.
 
About the EU MRV regulation: According to the EU MRV regulation which came into force on 1 July 2015, shipping companies with vessels exceeding 5,000 gross tons and operating in the EU have started to monitor their carbon emissions, fuel consumption and associated transport work from 1 January 2018 according to their assessed Monitoring Plans.
 
About the IMO Data Collection system: The IMO has outlined a roadmap through 2023 which is focused on developing a comprehensive strategy for the reduction of GHG emissions from shipping. In April 2015, the IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) agreed to mandatory requirements for ships to record and report data on their fuel consumption. Thereafter, in October 2016 at the 70th meeting, it was decided that these requirements would be adopted as modifications to MARPOL Annex VI.