FuelEU pooling paper points to lowest-cost compliance route

A newly published paper in Energies argues that vessel pooling is becoming a key compliance tool under FuelEU Maritime, with the authors describing it as currently the most cost-efficient route to compliance.

Rather than focusing on retrofits or onboard technology, the paper examines pooling as a market-based strategy shaped by data exchange, verification rules and the growing role of intermediaries.

The study, by Gdynia Maritime University professor Maciej Daniel Matczak and University of Piraeus transport systems logistics professor Stratos Papadimitrou, assesses the significance of pooling in the European shipping energy transition and examines how pool participation, pricing and intermediary services are developing.

Its methodology combines stakeholder and market analysis, case studies, comparative analysis, expert interviews and a targeted survey.

The paper’s central point is that pooling allows ships with a compliance surplus to offset those with a deficit, provided the pool as a whole remains compliant.

The authors describe this as the most innovative of FuelEU’s flexibility mechanisms and note that it can extend across vessels controlled by different companies, as long as they share the same verifier.

It also argues that pooling has wider commercial implications than operational efficiency measures.

While technical improvements may cut fuel consumption, they do not always improve the specific compliance metric used by FuelEU.