Baltic Exchange launches free FuelEU calculator
Tool shows the costs of the new regulation are going to hurt
11 Dec 2024
The Baltic Exchange has added a FuelEU tool to its free cost calculator so owners and operators can see what the regulation means for their ships and routes.
https://emissions.research.balticexchange.com/
THE Baltic Exchange has released a free FuelEU cost calculator to help companies understand what the new European regulation will mean for them.
The emissions tool calculates the expected costs for different ship types based on standard Baltic routes, with which the market is familiar.
Users can enter their ship’s tonnage, fuel and route and see how the costs compare against
Baltic standards. Owners can analyse the potential costs of different fuels on a voyage, while operators and charterers can check whether they are being charged fairly.
Baltic Exchange emissions lead Martin Crawford-Brunt said the EU ETS and FuelEU Maritime regulations were a net positive for the industry, but their increasing complexity created ambiguity about what good emissions performance looked like.
“Until you put a dollar figure on it, it’s quite academic,” he told Lloyd’s List.
The Baltic’s FuelEU tool let users “kick the tyres and understand what it means”.
Crawford-Brunt said the tool does not need to know a ship's loading and discharge ports, only its standard route to show which ships were competing for which business.
The tool compares fossil fuels, with biofuel blends to be added in the new year.
It shows that using methanol made from natural gas — the only kind available at scale today — results in eye-watering cost increases.
A 180,000 dwt capesize on the C2 route (Tubarao-Rotterdam) running on very low sulphur fuel oil would face a FuelEU Maritime penalty of $66,600 and total fuel cost of $942,000, according to the Baltic calculator.
Use grey methanol and these costs jump to $253,000 and $4.7m, reflecting the fuel’s high cost and carbon intensity.
But using LNG would net the operator a $327,000 benefit, because of exceptions for LNG baked into the FuelEU rules.
Crawford-Brunt said the cost estimates for methanol and ammonia were conservatively low, highlighting the need for regulation to level the playing field between fossil and green fuels. The tool assumes that ships sailing in emissions control areas comply with the air quality rules, so it factors in the cost of using MGO.
The tool adds to the Baltic’s ETS and CII calculators and is free to all.
Several companies have developed ETS and FuelEU compliance software, including class societies, tech start-ups and third-party shipmanagers, often as an add-on to existing data products.
FuelEU Maritime comes into force on January 1.