The three dates that decide EEDI application and the major conversion test (MARPOL Annex VI Regulation 19)

Say a bulk carrier whose building contract was placed in December 2012, whose keel was laid in August 2013, and which was delivered in September 2015. Is that ship a new ship under chapter 4 of MARPOL Annex VI. The answer does not come out in one line, because the Convention does not define a new ship by a single date. It uses three of them, the contract date, the keel date and the delivery date, and the conjunction that binds them is or.

One more thing sits on top: major conversion. A ship delivered many years ago can have a settled answer reopened by a conversion. This article looks only at the application test and the conversion test, not at reduction factor values.

The chapter attaches to every ship of 400 gross tonnage and above, and two classes drop out

1 This chapter shall apply to all ships of 400 gross tonnage and above.

The threshold is 400 gross tonnage, and above it the chapter does not sort by ship type. Paragraph 2 of the same regulation then takes two classes out. One class is ships not propelled by mechanical means together with FPSOs, FSUs and drilling rigs. The other is ships that trade only inside waters under the jurisdiction of their own flag State. The second class carries one more sentence. It says the Party is to take measures so those ships are built and operated in line with the requirements of this chapter, and it says so with should. That is where it parts from the shall of the application provision.

Paragraph 3 takes ships with non-conventional propulsion out of regulations 22 and 24, then puts cruise passenger ships and LNG carriers back in. The test there is the definition delivered on or after 1 September 2019, and that definition is also built from a contract date, a keel date and a delivery date, only with different days.

Crossing any one of the three dates makes the ship a new ship

.18 New ship means a ship: .1 for which the building contract is placed on or after 1 January 2013; or .2 in the absence of a building contract, the keel of which is laid or which is at a similar stage of construction on or after 1 July 2013; or .3 the delivery of which is on or after 1 July 2015.

The three limbs are joined by or. Meeting one of them is enough to be a new ship. Read by its contract date, the bulk carrier above does not meet the first limb. Its delivery date, however, crosses the line in the third limb. Whenever the contract was placed, that ship is a new ship.

Only the second limb carries an extra condition: in the absence of a building contract. Where a building contract exists, the keel date is not the test. The keel date is read only where there is no contract. The first and third limbs carry no such condition.

So the order of reading comes out like this. With a contract, you read the contract date and the delivery date. Without one, you read the keel date and the delivery date. Either way, you always read the delivery date.

The keel date is not fixed to a single day either. The provision writes a similar stage of construction alongside it and defines that stage separately.

.2 A similar stage of construction means the stage at which: .1 construction identifiable with a specific ship begins; and .2 assembly of that ship has commenced comprising at least 50 tonnes or one per cent of the estimated mass of all structural material, whichever is less.

Here two conditions are joined by and. Construction identifiable with a specific ship has to begin, and assembly of that ship has to start. The threshold for assembly is the lesser of 50 tonnes and one per cent of the estimated mass of all structural material. On a ship whose estimated structural mass exceeds 5,000 tonnes, 50 tonnes is the lesser figure.

An existing ship has no dates of its own. Regulation 2 defines it only as a ship that is not a new ship.

The Administration’s waiver closes on the same three dates in the same order

4 Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 1 of this regulation, the Administration may waive the requirement for a ship of 400 gross tonnage and above to comply with regulations 22 and 24 of this Annex.

The Administration may waive the attained EEDI of regulation 22 and the required EEDI of regulation 24. Paragraph 5 is where that power closes.

5 The provision of paragraph 4 of this regulation shall not apply to ships of 400 gross tonnage and above: .1 for which the building contract is placed on or after 1 January 2017; or .2 in the absence of a building contract, the keel of which is laid or which is at a similar stage of construction on or after 1 July 2017; or .3 the delivery of which is on or after 1 July 2019; or .4 in cases of a major conversion of a new or existing ship, as defined in regulation 2.2.17 of this Annex, on or after 1 January 2017, and in which regulations 5.4.2 and 5.4.3 of this Annex apply.

The skeleton of the sentence is the same as the new ship definition. The contract date, the keel date where there is no contract, and the delivery date repeat in the same order, with the days pushed back.

Date that governs	Becomes a new ship	Waiver closes
Building contract date	on or after 1 January 2013	on or after 1 January 2017
Keel date, where there is no contract	on or after 1 July 2013	on or after 1 July 2017
Delivery date	on or after 1 July 2015	on or after 1 July 2019

There is a fourth limb. New ship or existing ship, a major conversion closes the waiver. The first three limbs read the day the ship was born; the fourth reads the day the ship changed. The door opens again after construction is finished.

A major conversion is made out by any one of five limbs

.17 Major conversion means a conversion of a ship: .1 which substantially alters the dimensions, carrying capacity or engine power of the ship; or .2 which changes the type of the ship; or .3 the intent of which in the opinion of the Administration is substantially to prolong the life of the ship; or .4 which otherwise so alters the ship that, if it were a new ship, it would become subject to relevant provisions of the present Convention not applicable to it as an existing ship; or .5 which substantially alters the energy efficiency of the ship and includes any modifications that could cause the ship to exceed the applicable required EEDI as set out in regulation 24 of this Annex or the applicable required EEXI as set out in regulation 25 of this Annex.

The five limbs are again joined by or. Dimensions, carrying capacity and engine power; the type of the ship; an intent to prolong its life; whether provisions that would have applied to a new ship now attach; and energy efficiency.

Where the judgement sits differs from limb to limb. The third limb writes in the opinion of the Administration and hands the call to the Administration. The fifth limb judges by outcome. If the work includes modifications that could push the ship past the required EEDI or the required EEXI, that alone makes it a major conversion. Unless the company settles with the Administration which limb the work falls under before signing the conversion contract, the call comes after the work is done.

An existing ship picks up the attained EEDI only when the conversion is extensive enough

1 The attained EEDI shall be calculated for: .1 each new ship; .2 each new ship which has undergone a major conversion; and .3 each new or existing ship which has undergone a major conversion that is so extensive that the ship is regarded by the Administration as a newly constructed ship,

Set the three limbs side by side and the door an existing ship comes through is visible. The first and second limbs take only a new ship. The only door for an existing ship is the third limb, and it carries one more condition. The conversion has to be extensive enough that the Administration regards the ship as newly constructed.

So for an existing ship the test runs in two stages. The work first has to meet one of the five limbs in regulation 2 and become a major conversion, and then the Administration decides whether to treat that conversion as building a new ship. Clearing the first stage and stopping at the second leaves the attained EEDI calculation untriggered.

Once the ship is regarded as newly constructed, the next question is which date governs. Paragraph 2 of regulation 24 writes it down.

the attained EEDI shall be calculated and meet the requirement of paragraph 1 of this regulation with the reduction factor applicable corresponding to the ship type and size of the converted ship at the date of the contract of the conversion, or in the absence of a contract, the commencement date of the conversion.

The governing date is the date of the conversion contract. Without a contract, it is the date the conversion started. in the absence of a contract appears again here. The structure that split the contract date from the keel date at newbuilding sits in conversion as well. Ship type and size are read after the conversion rather than before, because the provision writes the converted ship.

Worth confirming

The passages above come from the MARPOL Annex VI amendments adopted by MEPC.328(76). The definitions in regulation 2 and the dates in regulation 19 are in the text, but what fills the space between them is the Administration’s judgement. Whether a conversion is extensive enough to count as building a new ship, how the intent in the third limb is read, and whether a waiver is actually granted all sit with the Administration and the organizations it authorizes. Whether the ship’s flag State operates the waiver in paragraph 4 of regulation 19 is where the actual judgement starts.