Making emissions data verification manageable at scale
The FuelEU Maritime regulation has been in force since 1 January 2025, and the due date for verification of the first year’s emissions data at the end of April is imminent.
FuelEU Maritime adds reporting complexity
FuelEU Maritime (FEUM) has brought the number of emissions reporting obligations for ships operating in European waters to four, along with IMO DCS as well as EU MRV and ETS. The UK’s own MRV and ETS reports and any pooling arrangements under FEUM add further complexity. “Customers are finding it challenging to meet the verification due date,” says Conrad Golebski, Global Sales Manager, MRV, DCS, and FuelEU Maritime at DNV. “But non-compliance results in costs, which can be quite high for vessels that do not meet the emission targets.”
Data quality issues are widely underestimated
Preparing the document of compliance for the regulatory authorities has been an annual exercise – and a very stressful one, emphasizes Golebski. The annual verification process is often challenging, as the extent of data quality issues tends to be underestimated and only becomes apparent after year-end submissions, leading to a growing number of correction requests during verification for shipowners.
“Rectifying these issues can be a complex and time‑consuming process, involving an intense communication exchange before verification can proceed.”
There are two types of error that compromise data quality, says Golebski. “Human data entry errors must be corrected one by one. Systematic errors will affect the data of the entire fleet, and detecting and correcting them as early as possible will make a big difference towards minimizing the rectification effort.”
Continuous emissions data submission enables early, high quality verification
“Clients who choose to upload their ships’ emissions data to the OVD Admin continuously throughout the year instead of waiting until January can benefit from our quality checking algorithms and make the necessary corrections as they go,” Golebski points out. “This will make the actual verification step the following spring much more comfortable and avoid missing the submission deadline.”
From DNV's data warehouse, the data can be distributed to the client-requested services, such as Fleet Status, Emissions Insight, the DCS-, MRV-, and FEUM-specific applications, or Emissions Connect. “It is this centralized digital concept that makes our system so convenient,” says Golebski. “We maintain and update our infrastructure constantly to account for client needs and improve user-friendliness.
More personnel and new checks ensure prompt attention to client needs
In view of the new regulation, DNV had significantly increased its core verification and governance teams and provided a liaison to each key customer as a point of contact for questions and issues. “We now have about 120 people dedicated to our core greenhouse gas compliance work, with individual groups assigned to each DNV region,” says Golebski. “We were able to develop new checks this year to better respond to customer needs. This was key to completing the verification cycle early.”
Contships Management ensures timely reporting amid fleet renewal programme
For Contships Management Inc., the world’s largest independent owner of feeder container ships between 900 and 1,500 TEU, the verification timeline was especially stringent as the company was selling assets as part of its fleet renewal effort, says Margarita Kourounioti, Sustainability and Compliance Manager at Contships. “This year’s collaboration with DNV has been one of continuous engagement and real, measurable progress. Contships’ fleet renewal programme, which saw the sale of multiple vessels, brought immediate FuelEU Maritime obligations and fostered an ongoing dialogue with the verification team that ultimately strengthened the process. With enhanced data quality checks, a structured pre-verification phase, and dedicated support, this verification period was the most efficient to date, ensuring emissions data was verified and available well ahead of regulatory deadlines, in line with the early access that charterers and investors now consider standard practice.”
The positive commercial implications of timely emissions data are also highly relevant for Stealth Maritime Corporation, as Sofia Papadaki, Head of Environmental Compliance confirms: “Compliance with environmental regulations is critical to our operations. DNV's partnership through Emissions Connect and Veracity, keeps us confident in meeting requirements. Environmental regulations drive excellence through strategic monitoring. Data accuracy and monitoring have protected us from charterer disputes and strengthened our commercial standing.”
Comprehensive IT infrastructure enables a fully digital process
DNV has also invested substantially in its IT infrastructure and built integration APIs for all leading performance management systems for Data Workbench. “Our service was the first fully digital verification service available at DNV, thanks to API integrations, monitoring plan generators, and online forms,” says Golebski. “All this makes it very easy for clients to work with us and benefit from the automated processes on Veracity that other companies still do manually. What is more, digital data collection and processing ensure consistency, quality, and continuous feedback. All that saves time.”
A statement echoed by DNV client Neptune Lines, which specializes in pure car/truck carriers: “DNV delivers smooth verification through strong tools, true partnership, and continuously leading‑edge services,” says Sonia Lavranou, Energy Efficiency Engineer at Neptune.
Monitoring plan generator speeds up mandatory process
Under the EU MRV and ETS regulations, shipowners and managers are required to submit ship-specific emissions monitoring plans to the administering authority annually. Monitoring plans specify how the company intends to monitor and collect the data, the fuel types used, and other data. They can be created conveniently using DNV’s Plan Generator, also called EU MRV Monitoring Plan Online Form, which is available on the My Services portal under “Actions”. It allows users to edit their digital data conveniently online.
Proactive strategy is key to timely submission of document of compliance
Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) likewise benefited from DNV’s proactive and fully digital process, the company says. “The DNV team’s support throughout our FuelEU verification was outstanding. From the early documentation pre‑checks to resolving queries and completing the verification with accurate numbers, their diligence and proactive communication were evident at every step. The collaboration between our teams worked extremely well, and it was a pleasure to work with them.”
BSM has been among the few companies with well‑defined procedures and compliance achieved ahead of deadlines, Golebski points out. Both are important for ESG and sustainability reporting. “Carbon emissions carry a growing financial liability,” he stresses. “We advise all our customers to make sure their data is as accurate as possible to avoid overpaying for emissions. As maritime decarbonization regulations continue to expand in scope and ambition, our successful cooperations show what is possible for any kind of fleet size when shipowners and verifiers work as long‑term partners rather than transactional counterparts.”
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FuelEU Maritime verification services
Plan, Report, Compliance Balance and Pool verification
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EU MRV and EU ETS verification services
Monitoring, Reporting and Verficiation, and Emission Trading System for the EU
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Emissions Connect (Free trial available)
Overcoming complexity in fleet emissions management
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