KR Webzine Vol.130

A memorandum of understanding (MOU) has been signed between Korean Register (KR) and Swiss Climate EcoCare GmbH to provide enhanced IMO DCS (International Maritime Organization, Data Collection System) services to the maritime industry.

The MoU was signed in Hamburg, Germany on 22nd Nov 2018 in presence of Philipp Ahrenkiel, Managing Director at Swiss Climate EcoCare GmbH and Michael Suhr, Technical & Commercial Director at Korean Register, Germany. The MoU was signed with a special focus on mutual cooperation to provide IMO DCS services to the maritime industry.

The International Maritime Organization has recently implemented a carbon dioxide emissions regime. This international data collection system known as IMO DCS focusses on the monitoring and reporting of fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. The new data collection duties required under the IMO DCS will commence on 1 January 2019.

KR, an IACS member classification society, has been offering verification and certification services to the maritime industry since 1960. KR is a Recognized Organization for IMO DCS and an accredited third-party verifier for EU MRV (measurement, reporting and verification). As an authorized verifier under IMO DCS, KR assesses SEEMP Part II, verifies emission data based on MARPOL Annex VI regulation 22 & 22A, and issues the respective certificates.

The Swiss Climate EcoCare GmbH, is an independent EU MRV verifier with more than 10 years of experience providing verification and certification solutions services to help the maritime industry effectively address environmental challenges. Since 2017, EcoCare GmbH has offered fully digitalized and automated verification services to support ship owners for the collection and transfer of IMO DCS related data, using its web application Cockpit. The MRV Cockpit can be connected via an interface to the Vessel Performance Monitoring System (VPMS) on board to receive the emission data automatically.

Philipp Ahrenkiel, Managing Director at Swiss Climate EcoCare GmbH, explains: "Our extensive experience in the field of CO2 management, combined with our comprehensive digital approach, has shown Korean Register that our competencies and capabilities complement each other perfectly. Ship owners will benefit diversely from the pooling of verification and certification expertise in the maritime sector.”

As from now on under the MoU, by using the Cockpit app to verify IMO DCS related data received from ships, KR will be able to provide a neutral, highly efficient and effective, rapid service. The process will ensure that the verification, validation and certification of the data is conducted independently and impartially.

Technical & Commercial Director Michael Suhr from KR Germany added: “Korean Register is delighted to work with industry leader Swiss Climate EcoCare GmbH. Our certification services are independent, completely neutral and we work as independent IMO experts, but the Cockpit app offers sophisticated, user-friendly software for data transmission, which will enable us to increase our technical services and expertise for customers across the European market.”