Contemporary assessment of International Maritime Organization’s Carbon Intensity Indicator requirement on tanker vessels’ chartering and employability prospects

Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) is one of the measures adopted by International Maritime Organization (IMO) in June 2021 during the 76th session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) for the reduction of carbon intensity of international shipping, taking effect from January 1, 2023. The CII consists an operational rating system that measures the efficiency of a vessel in grams of CO2 by cargo carrying capacity in nautical miles (g CO2/t-nm). Starting with the pertinent data for 2019 as reference and with a reduction of 1% per annum from 2020 to 2022 and thereafter of 2% per annum from 2023 to 2026, each vessel’s CII shall be calculated each year and a rating ranging from A to E will be assigned to the vessel. If a vessel gets a rating of D or E corrective actions will need to be implemented. Considering that the CII rating is affected by factors (such as, for example, the distance sailed, the fuel used, time in port, whether the vessel is loaded or ballast) that depend on operational and/or commercial considerations of the parties involved, vessels’ chartering will be affected by way of the provisions in the charter party regarding the need to abide by the CII requirements as well as by any implications on vessel’s employability prospects due to vessel’s attained CII rating. Aim of this paper is to provide a concise, yet comprehensive, assessment on the topic and offer suggestions for further analysis.