OceanScore has launched its new OceanScore Pool-Price Index (OPX), claimed to offer the maritime industry’s most comprehensive benchmark for tracking FuelEU pooling prices.
Published monthly, the OPX reflects the average cost of compliance surplus in euro per ton of CO2e, and is intended to serve as a benchmark for comparing individual surplus offers, assessing biofuel-based compliance and for negotiating compensations in charter party and Shipman agreements. The index addresses market transparency gaps by providing volume-weighted pricing data, backed by what is thought to be the largest FuelEU management client base, reflecting real offers, actual deal sizes, and the market dynamics taking place each day.
The FuelEU Maritime regulation, which entered into force in 2025, has created a growing market for pooling compliance surpluses in order to avoid paying penalties. However, unlike established commodity markets, FuelEU pooling transactions are entirely new, and are occurring mostly through bilateral negotiations with limited market visibility, creating significant challenges for market participants.
Albrecht Grell, MD OceanScore, said: “The lack of transparent pricing benchmarks has been one of the biggest obstacles to efficient FuelEU compliance. Companies have been making million-dollar compliance decisions based on incomplete market information. OPX changes that fundamentally.”
OPX employs a basket-based methodology similar to inflation calculations, ensuring the index accurately reflects the pricing that buyers actually encounter in the market:
- Small volume transactions (70% weighting): up to 1,499t CO₂e
- Medium volume transactions (20% weighting): 1,500-2,999t CO₂e
- Large volume transactions (10% weighting): above 3,000t CO₂e
Grell added: “Simple averages can be misleading when transaction sizes vary significantly. Our volume-weighted approach ensures OPX reflects real industry rations, not just arithmetic means that may not represent typical deal sizes.”
OPX is directly linked to OceanScore’s FuelEU Pooling Marketplace, combining transparency and credibility, offering the following advantages:
- Pooling advantage: OceanScore’s FuelEU Pooling Marketplace gives shipping companies flexibility, and transparency – and through competing offers, ultimately drives prices down.
- OPX benchmark: The only published, volume-adjusted FuelEU index, providing a valuable benchmark for pooling and other compliance decisions.
- Transparency: Methodology is fully open and public, creating trust when comparing pooling against biofuels or using it as a benchmark in charter-party or shipman negotiations.
- Independence: No transaction commissions or hidden margins influence the underlying prices; the index is unbiased and reflects true market dynamics.
- Credibility: Supported and trusted by leading global players, including MSC, Anglo-Eastern, V-Ships, IINO Lines, Nordic Shipping, and Döhle Group.
OceanScore’s FuelEU Pooling Marketplace and OPX are designed to work together to offer a trusted foundation for FuelEU compliance decisions. OPX is expected to provide a central benchmark across maritime compliance, supporting:
- Financial planning – clearer cost forecasting
- Compliance planning – comparing compliance options like pooling vs. paying penalties or burning biofuels
- Charter party settlements and Shipman agreements – a fair reference point for transparent cost sharing between owners and charterers
- Strategic purchasing – guidance on when to enter the pooling market (before April deadlines)
With FuelEU Maritime penalties set at €640 per tonne CO₂ equivalent, the pooling market represents a multi-million euro compliance mechanism. Current pooling prices tracked by OPX are running significantly below penalty levels, offering substantial cost savings for compliant shipping operations.
Grell said: “We’re seeing tremendous interest from ship managers, owners, and charterers who need reliable market intelligence. OPX provides the foundation for more sophisticated compliance strategies and better strategic purchasing decisions.”
OceanScore plans to expand OPX coverage and introduce additional maritime compliance benchmarks as regulatory markets develop.
Image: Albrecht Grell, OceanScore MD (source: OceanScore)
