Challenge
Tsakos Group (Tsakos Shipping and Trading S.A, Tsakos Conbulk Services Ltd) is one of Europe’s major shipping companies, operating a diverse fleet of approximately 100 vessels. It took a proactive approach to managing the growing regulatory complexity in emissions reporting and verification.
Since 2017, the company has invested in digital tools and partnerships to streamline compliance processes—culminating in a close collaboration with LR and the use of Emissions Verifier.
We could not have developed our solution and accurately track, report and verify the emissions of our fleet without Emissions Verifier.
Managing Regulatory Complexity at Scale
With the introduction of the EU MRV, UK MRV, IMO DCS, the EU ETS the more recent FuelEU and upcoming IMO GFI, Tsakos focused on optimising its response to an increasing number of complex emissions reporting frameworks.
“The most significant challenge was to be able to establish systems and monitoring tools for data management. We needed to translate the requirements of each scheme into our day-to-day operations.”
Emissions Verifier became integrated with the organisation’s Vessel Performance Management System (VPMS) platform starting with noon reporting before evolving to include emissions verification, document control, certificate tracking, and compliance monitoring – all in one place.
“Every scheme brought its own challenges. We gradually expanded the platform to manage UK MRV, EU ETS and IMO DCS, and now we’re implementing new modules for the latest emissions directives (such as FuelEU and upcoming IMO GFI).”
Solution
Why Emissions Verifier?
From the outset, LR has been the sole verifier for the fleet.
“We use only LR for emissions verification. Working with LR, we can harmonise, automate and standardise everything. We could not have developed our solution and accurately track, report and verify the emissions of our fleet without Emissions Verifier.”
Tsakos’ environmental and development teams work closely with LR’s own so plans can be efficiently submitted for verification, and technical feedback shared. This cooperation has been fundamental to meet regulatory milestones, even as requirements evolve.
"LR didn’t just verify our data—they helped us shape our tool. We can say that LR became our trusted partner."
Simplified Data Management and Reporting
Managing raw data, building procedures and uploading monitoring plans are daunting tasks. Emissions Verifier gave Tsakos the tools to streamline the process, cutting down manual work and reducing the risk of errors.
By using Emissions Verifier Plan Generator, Tsakos replicated monitoring plans across its fleet, maintaining data consistency, and easily updating existing plans without duplicating work.
“Yes, it was time-consuming at first—but once the data was uploaded, the benefits were immediate. We ensured data consistency across all tools, from initial reporting to final verification. and the XML file exports were a huge time-saver, especially for THETIS MRV and now will assist with FuelEU.”
Fleet-Wide Visibility and Control
Managing a large fleet of vessels is not an easy job. Emissions Verifier’s dashboard view gave the Tsakos environmental team a way to track monitoring plans and reporting requirements across the whole fleet.
“It’s a very useful way to have a quick overview, so we know where we stand both for every vessel and for the whole fleet. That’s something we didn’t expect but now rely on heavily.”
Automation at Scale
Manually entering data into regulatory portals like the EU’s THETIS database would have been extremely time consuming, and could have introduced errors. Emissions Verifier automated this process, saving time and reducing errors.
“We couldn’t meet EU reporting deadlines without this level of automation. Emissions Verifier made it possible without needing more people or more time.”
Results
Despite the evolving regulatory landscape, Tsakos maintains full compliance using Emissions Verifier, and continues to refine its internal processes using LR’s tools.
“It was a learning curve for all of us. But now we have a flexible, scalable system in place. Thanks in large part to LR’s tools and support. They always worked with us to find a way forward.”
Emissions regulations are increasing and will not go away. Tsakos uses Emissions Verifier to not just stay compliant, but to reduce the duplication, data errors and additional man hours that would otherwise be needed to process these many different requirements. For Tsakos, Emissions Verifier is a core part of its long-term compliance and data strategy.
"We’ve built something together that reflects not just our company’s needs, but the direction of the industry. It’s been beneficial on both sides."
