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News | 2020-11-26

Summarized information on Clean Shipping Index verification exemptions following the pandemic

Society and the maritime sector have been greatly influenced by the current pandemic sweeping over the world. As a result, ferry and shipping traffic have been reduced during 2020. For the shipping companies operating in Swedish waters there is a possibility to take part in the environmental incentive from the Swedish Maritime Administration (SMA), based on Clean Shipping Index (CSI).

In CSI there are annual updates and onboard visits that need to be performed, which in a pandemic are not considered responsible or wise to perform. As a result, SMA and CSI have decided on some adjustments as described below. The exemptions are in force until further notice and applied in SMA’s environmental incentive.

Requirement on annual updates lifted (from January 1st, 2021)

Changes in shipping operations will potentially influence vessel performances, causing non-representative figures. Therefore, CSI and SMA have decided that for each individual vessel, the next upcoming annual update will be fulfilled automatically, starting from January 1st, 2021. This means no action is required until the next subsequential annual update (if such exists). A voluntary vessel performance update can of course be carried out as usual.

Office- and on-board audits

Due to social distancing procedures applied by authorities, as part of the Covid-19 counteractions, the requirements on both office- and on-board audits during verification are removed. Procedures replacing physical inspections are to be determined by the verifier by his/her best ability and could for instance include a round-trip remote meeting with on-board personnel.

Application of CO2 data representing pre-Covid period

For new certificates, CO2 data from the historical period between 24-12 months back in time can be used instead of the past 12 months as described in the original guidelines. This measure is in place to mitigate issues with non-representative CO2 figures affecting CSI classes.

Further questions should primarily be directed to:
rickard@cleanshippingindex.com (CSI)
sabina.hoppe@sjofartsverket.se (SMA)