FuelEU compliance software calculates your greenhouse gas intensity, builds your compliance balance and prepares what your verifier needs. It does that well. What no tool in this category does is make the fuel data you feed it independently provable, and that is the part a verifier examines.
What this category of software actually does
The tools competing for this search do a genuinely useful set of jobs, and they overlap heavily:
- Collect voyage and bunker data from noon reports, sensors or your existing fleet system
- Apply the scope rules, counting 100% of energy on voyages between EU ports and 50% on voyages into or out of the EU
- Calculate attained GHG intensity well to wake, using the emission factors in Annex II of Regulation (EU) 2023/1805
- Produce the compliance balance and forecast the penalty before the period closes
- Model the flexibilities, meaning banking a surplus, borrowing against next period, and pooling ships together
- Format the reporting your accredited verifier and the administering state require
If you need those functions, buy one of them. This page is not an argument against doing that. The regulation those tools implement is explained in full here. Our own penalty calculator does a fraction of what they do.
Every one of them starts from the same assumption
Look at the first item on that list. The tool ingests your fuel data. It does not witness the bunkering, it does not hold the Bunker Delivery Note, and it has no way to establish that the quantity and the fuel type you entered are what actually went into the tank.
Compliance software computes the number. It cannot vouch for the inputs, and the inputs are what a verifier tests.
That is not a defect. It is the boundary of what a calculation engine can do. But it means the strength of your compliance position is set before the software ever runs, by the quality of the record created at each bunkering.
What a verifier is actually testing
FuelEU Maritime does not accept a self declared figure. An accredited verifier has to approve your monitoring plan and your compliance balance. When they audit, the calculation is the easy part to check, because it is deterministic. What takes the time is the evidence chain underneath it:
- Does the Bunker Delivery Note exist for every delivery, complete and signed
- Do the quantities on it reconcile with what the ship recorded on receipt
- Was the fuel type and its sustainability characteristic documented at the time, or asserted afterwards
- Can any of it have been altered between the delivery and the audit
The last question is the uncomfortable one. A PDF in a folder, a row in a spreadsheet and a record in a vendor database all share the same property: somebody could have changed them, and there is no way to demonstrate that nobody did.
Three ways to hold the same evidence
| Spreadsheet or PDF | Compliance software | Verified shared record | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calculates your balance | No | Yes | No |
| Models pooling and banking | No | Yes | No |
| Holds the source documents | Yes | Usually | Yes |
| Signed by an accredited verifier at the point of entry | No | No | Yes |
| Provably unaltered since the delivery | No | No | Yes |
| Readable by counterparties without sending them a copy | No | No | Yes |
| Owned by a party with an interest in it | You | The vendor | Nobody |
The first two columns are not interchangeable with the third. They answer different questions, and most owners will end up needing more than one of them.
Where VesselChain sits, and where it does not
Being exact about this matters more than winning the search.
- VesselChain is not FuelEU compliance software. It does not calculate your GHG intensity, it does not model pooling or banking, and it does not file your reporting
- It is the evidence layer underneath. Each bunker delivery is recorded once at the point of delivery, signed by the accredited verifier the regulation already requires, and held identically by every party that depends on it
- It is complementary, not competing. The output is a verified record your compliance tool, your verifier and your counterparties can all draw from
Seven questions worth asking any vendor
These are the questions that separate the tools quickly, and most of them are about evidence rather than features.
- Where does my fuel data come from, and who attests to it? Noon reports, a sensor feed and a signed delivery note are not equivalent evidence
- What happens if a bunker quantity is disputed after the fact? Ask to see how a correction is recorded and whether the original remains visible
- Can you show that a record has not been edited since it was created? Not whether you would edit it, whether you can demonstrate that nobody did
- Who else can read the record without me sending them a copy? Charterers and corridor partners will ask for the same figures
- What happens to my data if I leave? Export format, retention, and whether the evidence survives the relationship
- Do you calculate the intensity, or do you also stand behind the inputs? Almost every vendor does the first. Very few claim the second
- How does this fit with my accredited verifier? The verifier is required by the regulation and is not optional, so the tool has to make their job easier, not duplicate it
We would rather you asked us those seven than took our word for anything on this page.
Where this stands today
- The MVP is live on the Ignis blockchain, handling vessel management, delivery upload, verifier signature and export. A demo is available on request in a call
- We have not yet run a paid pilot in an operational corridor, and that is what we are looking for
- Our verification partnerships are not yet signed. The architecture is built for an accredited verifier to sign each entry, and we are actively looking for those partners
If you already run compliance software and the gap you keep hitting is proving the inputs, that is the conversation worth having. Tell us the route and the counterparties and we will scope it in one call.
Frequently asked questions
Is VesselChain FuelEU compliance software?
No. It does not calculate greenhouse gas intensity, model pooling or banking, or file your reporting. It records each bunker delivery once, verified and unalterable, so the data your compliance software and your verifier rely on can be proven.
What does FuelEU compliance software do?
It collects voyage and bunker data, applies the 100% and 50% scope rules, calculates attained GHG intensity well to wake, produces the compliance balance, models banking, borrowing and pooling, and formats the reporting your verifier needs.
Do I still need a verifier if I use compliance software?
Yes. FuelEU Maritime requires an accredited verifier to approve the monitoring plan and the compliance balance. Software prepares the submission, it does not replace the verification.
Can I just use a spreadsheet?
You can calculate in a spreadsheet, and many operators do. What a spreadsheet cannot do is demonstrate that the underlying delivery records have not been altered between the bunkering and the audit.
Does VesselChain replace my compliance software?
No, and it is not intended to. The two do different jobs. The record provides verified inputs, the compliance tool does the calculation and the reporting.
