S7 Ep3: FuelEU Maritime turns 1 - Robert Gaina, Ardmore and Filip Feurst, Stena Bulk

Shipping companies Ardmore and Stena Bulk discuss how they have navigated the first year of the FuelEU Maritime regulation.
Podcast highlights
Ardmore’s Chief Operating Officer, Robert Gaina, explains how the company, which operates 25 chemical and product tankers, has decided to comply with FuelEU Maritime by bunkering biofuels on selected voyages.
Describing how the new regulation, which sets a limit on the greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity of the energy used on ships, has impacted crews and onshore teams in practice, he argues that the biggest change was not technical, but ‘behavioural’ – as ensuring compliance requires closer collaboration between different teams on voyage planning and bunker procurement.
As Ardmore’s fleet is operated primarily on the spot market but also includes vessels on time charters, Robert compares the complexity of ensuring compliance under the two trading models.
Asked about the commercial repercussions of the regional regulation, he explains why he doesn’t believe that it has made European companies less competitive, and why he expects the additional costs to eventually be passed down as the market adapts.
Stena Bulk’s Sustainability Manager, Filip Feurst, explains why the tanker operator opted for pooling as its main FuelEU compliance strategy, despite having six vessels capable of using methanol as fuel in its fleet of 58 ships.
He illustrates how companies that operate the majority of their vessels on the spot market, like Stena Bulk, face additional challenges in planning for their FuelEU Maritime compliance – as a lack of visibility on whether a voyage will call Europe makes it harder for those companies to plan the bunkering and use of alternative fuels. But he explains how the new regulation has nonetheless changed Stena Bulk’s approach to fuel procurement.
Filip also relates how the industry has leapt forward on data sharing as owners, operators, and pooling parties need to exchange information to ensure compliance and avoid penalties.
Looking ahead, he sees a commercial potential for companies that are able to monetise and trade the compliance surpluses of their dual-fuel vessels, although he notes that the opportunity might be easier to seize for companies on liner trades.