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The subsidiary of classification society ClassNK, ClassNK Consulting Service (NKCS), has launched a support service for setting up a Data Collection Plan (DCP) in accordance with the International Maritime Organization (IMO)'s data collection system for the fuel oil consumption of ships.

According to the amendments to MARPOL Annex VI that make the data collection system for the fuel oil consumption of ships mandatory as of March 1, 2018, data collecting and reporting for ships of 5,000 gross tonnes or more engaged in international voyages will be required from the start of 2019.

According to this regulation, the gathering of data relating to fuel consumption amounts and a DCP outlining reporting procedures are required to be included in the Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP).

A DCP - required for every ship - must include a description of data collection methods and management procedures geared towards the conditions of the ship.

Further, when a ship is being transferred to another owner, a DCP with the approved flag/class of the ship is necessary immediately upon delivery for ships being delivered on or after March 1, 2018, and by December 31, 2018 for ships delivered before March.

NKCS says its DCP support service is offered in "standard formats" and is in addition to its usual SEEMP support service.

As previously reported, NKCS launched a bunker fuel oil analysis service in May 2017. The service offers an oil analysis report for the properties of bunker fuel oil based on the ISO8217 Standard; it provides special analysis of asphaltenes and the degree of oxidation, and offers analysis using a fuel combustion analyser (FCA), gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR).