FuelEU is a regulation designed to reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity of all shipping of 5000 GT and above operating in the European Economic Area (EEA – the EU plus Norway and Iceland), coming into effect from 1 January 2025.

Who is responsible for FuelEU compliance?

Responsibility for FuelEU lies with the owner, manager or charterer who has assumed operation of the ship under the International Management Code for the Safe Operation of Ships and for Pollution Prevention. Read more about the regulation here.  

By 31 August 2024: Monitoring plans

Owners, managers or charterers must submit FuelEU Monitoring Plans for each of their ships to an EU-authorised verifier, such as Lloyds Register (LR), for assessment by 31 August 2024. FuelEU Monitoring Plans should show how you plan to monitor and report the amount, type and emission factor of energy used.

If ships fall under this regulation for the first time after 31 August 2024, responsible operators should submit Monitoring Plans to a verifier no more than two months after each ship’s first call at an EEA Member State port.

If you already have EU MRV plans, use Emissions Verifier  to clone MRV plans to FuelEU plans, or to duplicate FuelEU plans for your whole fleet.

From 1 January 2025: Recording information

From 1 January 2025 (and every 1 January to 31 December reporting period thereafter), FuelEU Monitoring Plans will be put into action, to record GHG intensity onboard each ship. Owners, managers or charterers will need to record the following information for each of its ships arriving at, berthed at, or departing from an EEA port:

  • Dates and hour for ports of departure and arrival including time spent at berth.
  • Whether connected to and using onshore power supply (OPS), or whether any exceptions apply. This is mandatory for container and passenger ships.
  • Amount of electricity delivered to the ship through OPS.
  • Amount of each type of fuel consumed at berth and at sea.
  • Well-to-wake emissions for each type of fuel consumed at berth and at sea, broken down by well-to-tank, tank-to-wake and fugitive emissions, covering CO2, CH4 and N2
  • Amount of each type of substitute source of energy consumed at berth and at sea.
  • Ship ice class, the date, time and position when entering and leaving ice conditions, the amount of each type of fuel consumed and the distance travelled when sailing in ice conditions in addition to the total distance travelled for all voyages during the reporting period, if the company requests to exclude the additional energy used due to sailing in ice conditions from the calculation of the compliance balance.

Read the LR guide to managing compliance and optimising operations under the EU's new regime here.

By 31 January 2026: Submit information

By 31 January 2026, and in each subsequent year, owners, managers or charterers should give their verifier the information listed above for each ship coming into the scope of FuelEU in the form of a FuelEU report.

If a ship transfers from one company to another part-way through a reporting year, the company operating the ship at the end of the reporting period will assume compliance responsibility for the entire reporting period. The responsibility follows the ship and any GHG intensity surplus or deficit will stay with that ship. 

Upon transfer, the transferring company must send the above information to their verifier, who should verify the data and record it in the FuelEU database within one month and as close as possible to the completion date of transfer. 

By 31 March 2026: Notification of verification activities

By 31 March 2026, and in each subsequent year, the verifier will have completed its annual assessment of each FuelEU report, notified the company, and recorded in the FuelEU database the:

  • Verification report, stating whether the ship complies with FuelEU, and if it does, the corresponding ship Fuel EU report.
  • Annual average GHG intensity of the energy used onboard.
  • Ship’s compliance balance.
  • Number of non-compliant port calls in the previous reporting period, including time spent moored at quayside and, where applicable at anchorage, each port call requiring OPS.
  • Annual amount of energy used onboard ship, excluding energy from OPS.
  • Annual amount of energy used onboard ship from Renewable fuels of non-biological origin (RFNBOs).

By 30 April 2026: Use of flexibility compliance mechanisms

By 30 April 2026, and in each subsequent year, companies must notify verifiers whether they intend to adopt a flexibility compliance mechanism , to bank, borrow, or pool any GHG intensity surplus or deficit to minimise financial exposures. Any banking or borrowing should be recorded with the verifier’s approval, in the FuelEU database. Pooling must be recorded in the FuelEU database by a verifier.

By 30 April 2026: Reporting

By 30 April 2026, and in each subsequent year, the verifier will report the following back to the company:

  • The ship’s annual compliance balance, accounting for any compliance mechanisms applied.
  • RFNBO sub-target (if applicable).
  • FuelEU penalty (if applicable).

From 1 May 2026: Penalties

From 1 May 2026, and in each subsequent year, a company must pay a penalty if a ship:

  • Has exceeded its GHG intensity.
  • Does not meet the RFNBO sub target (as/when applicable).
  • Had had any non-compliant onshore power port calls (from 2030). 

Penalties must be paid before 30 June, the deadline for FuelEU documents of compliance (DoCs – see below) to be issued. Penalties will be used to support EU projects aimed at decarbonising the maritime sector.

By 30 June 2026: Fuel EU document of compliance 

From 30 June 2026, and in each subsequent year:

  • Verifiers will issue FuelEU DoCs to ships if the ship has no compliance deficit or non-compliant port calls.
  • An EEA administering state will issue FuelEU DoCs for ships that had a compliance deficit, but have paid outstanding penalties.

FuelEU DoCs are valid until 30 June the following year. Ships subject to FuelEU must carry a valid DoC when entering an EEA port.

If a ship fails to present a FuelEU DoC for two or more consecutive reporting periods, they could be banned from EEA ports.

From 1 January 2030: Zero-emission berthing at TEN-T ports

Container and passenger ships over 5000 GT entering EEA ports must connect to onshore power supplies to meet FuelEU zero-emission at berth requirements at major Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) ports. There are exceptions, including staying at port for less than two hours, using zero-emission technology whilst at berth, or making an emergency or unforeseen port call.

Failure to connect to onshore power without a valid exception will result in a penalty.

From 1 January 2035: Zero-emission berthing

Container and passenger ships over 5000 GT entering all EEA ports must connect to onshore power supplies, when available, to meet zero-emission at berth requirements. 

Back to LR FuelEU Maritime Regulation