According to the European climate consulting company Kickster, more than 40% of nearly 9,000 ships assessed may face potential shortages under the FuelEU Maritime regulation after the first year of its implementation.
The company, based in Milan and Athens, analyzed 8,973 ships using data from public monitoring, EU reporting, and verification. Kickster's methodology combines technical efficiency according to EEXI with operational intensity of CO2-equivalent per transport work.
As a result of the analysis, 2,036 ships were categorized as having a minor analytical deficit, while 1,596 were categorized as having a serious deficit, totaling 40.5% of the analyzed ships.
Additionally, 3,620 ships, or 40.3%, were classified as having an estimated surplus, while 1,721 ships were deemed close to balance.
Kickster emphasized that these categories are not official compliance balances for FuelEU. The public MRV dataset does not contain verified greenhouse gas intensity from well to wake, nor data on pooling, banking operations, or borrowing, which are used to determine compliance with EU regulations.
Official data cited in the assessment shows that more than 13,000 FuelEU reports were verified between January and March 2026. More than 12,000 compliance reports covering over 90% of the fleet were deemed satisfactory, while about 90% of ships used pooling.
Kickster noted that the results show that technical efficiency alone is insufficient to determine performance under FuelEU, as ship operations and fuel choice also play a central role.
The consulting firm operates a subscription platform through which shipowners, charterers, and other maritime companies can organize pooling under FuelEU.
