AAs the shipping industry intensifies its focus on energy efficiency, clear and balanced standard contractual frameworks for ship modernization projects are becoming increasingly important. BIMCO has made significant progress in developing the Energy Saving Device Retrofitting Annex, a document designed to give shipowners and charterers a reliable and practical tool to enable retrofit projects under fixed-term charter contracts.
The addendum will address one of the most complex contractual challenges in shipping today: how to fairly allocate the costs, risks and benefits of installing energy saving devices on ships already in service. A key feature of the document will be a cost-benefit sharing mechanism, encouraging both shipowners and charterers to engage constructively in modernization initiatives while providing clarity on how performance outcomes and financial responsibilities will be allocated between the parties.
A balanced and representative process
The addendum is being developed by a specialized subcommittee working within the BIMCO Documentary Committee. The Sub-Committee has been deliberately structured to reflect the full range of relevant interests, bringing together shipowners, charterers and protection and compensation representatives. This balanced composition is fundamental to the BIMCO process and ensures that the views of all key stakeholders are taken into account as the Annex takes shape.
Alongside the subcommittee, BIMCO established an industry-wide sounding board, drawing on stakeholders with relevant expertise in retrofit technologies, performance evaluation and energy efficiency measures. A sounding board provides an additional layer of scrutiny and practical input, helping to ensure that the final document reflects commercial realities across different ship and craft types.
“The process is well underway and progressing at a good pace. The Subcommittee is currently considering all the comments received from the BIMCO Documentary Committee at the last meeting of the Documentary Committee in April and from the industry-wide voice council. This input greatly helps us in our work to find practical and balanced contractual solutions for modernization projects, and we are committed to producing a document that the industry can rely on,” says Matthias Kjellberg of Stena Rederi AB, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Stena Rederi AB. Subcommittee.
Final stages
The project is now approaching its final stages, with the subcommittee focused on ensuring the addition achieves the right balance across a number of dimensions. “We are in the final stages of the project, and the focus is firmly on striking the right balance. This means not only finding common ground between shipowners and charterers, but also ensuring that the document is legally sound and practical to use, without becoming too complex. It is a sensitive task, and one the subcommittee is working hard to achieve,” says Keith Dow, head of energy transmission and decarbonisation at Cargill Ocean Transportation.
When completed, the addendum will be a document written by industry and for industry, reflecting the comprehensive and balanced process that underpins all of BIMCO’s contract work.
Source: Bimco, https://www.bimco.org/news-insights/bimco-news/2026/06/10-retrofit-addendum/
