On Tuesday, a group of the world’s largest vessel charterers sent a letter to BIMCO stating that they will refuse to use the Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) clause because “it places the obligation to comply with CII disproportionately on charterers. 23 signatories included shipping lines Maersk, MSC, CMA CGM and Hapag-Lloyd; agricultural shipping giants ADM, Bunge and Louis Dreyfus; and top trading houses Trafigura and Vitol, among other big names (letter from charterers here). The group feels the approach taken is imbalanced and removes incentives for owners to do their fair share in the decarbonization efforts, resulting in a wide range of customized CII clauses or possibly no clause being agreed to. In circumstances where charterers’ employment orders are only partly responsible for the CII rating, this group does not accept taking wholesale responsibility for compliance with the regulations. Consequently, the signatories of this statement wish to continue to collaborate to develop alternative CII clauses that fairly share the responsibility for the journey towards decarbonization between owners and charterers.
