Revision of SHIPMAN begins with focus on shipmanagers' responsibilities under the EU Emissions Trading System

The drafting team tasked with updating BIMCO's 13 year old SHIPMAN shipmanagement agreement will begin by preparing a free standing clause addressing the shipmanagers' role in complying with emissions trading systems such as the EU ETS. ETS is seen as a critical issue by shipmanagers who will need to agree with owners how the surrender of emissions allowances for ships trading to the EU after 2024 is to be handled. 

The EU has identified the ISM Doc holder as the “shipping company” responsible for emissions. This potentially creates a significant credit risk for ship managers as allowances are accumulated over a 12 month period and surrendered the following calendar year. Many smaller third party shipmanagers who manage ships on behalf of owners who only trade to the EU infrequently may not yet be fully aware of the potential implications. 

The SHIPMAN ETS Clause will work with the current 2009 edition of SHIPMAN and will form an integral part of the new edition. The drafting team aim to have the clause in place within the next few months – well ahead of the 1 January 2024 coming into force date of the EU ETS legislation for shipping. Once they have completed that task they will begin a full scale overhaul of SHIPMAN and its associated management agreements – CREWMAN, LAYUPMAN and SUPERMAN. 

Source: BIMCO

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