Greek government, shipowners still skeptical of IMO's green bunker rules

Greece has remained skeptical about the International Maritime Organization's Net-Zero Framework, its top shipping official said June 1, as some of the country's largest shipowners voiced opposition to the regulation in its current form.

Greece abstained from an October 2025 vote at the UN agency to delay the adoption of the marine energy rules for a year, which eventually passed. Nearly all other EU member states supported the NZF's adoption.

"We really want a global framework. We really want to cooperate and work with everyone. But we are present with our own policies," Greek Minister of Shipping and Island Policy, Vassilis Kikilias, said during a Capital Link forum during the opening day of the Posidonia shipping exhibition in Greece.

Based on recent statements from the Greek government, Athens has aimed to coordinate with the US and Saudi Arabia -- which oppose the NZF -- to reach consensus with Brussels on "realism" in energy.

"We were talking, of course under the IMO, for many, many years, trying to create a new framework for shipping in everything that has to do with fuels," Kikilias said. "And then, a geostrategic problem erupted in the Strait of Hormuz and completely changed the picture. Now we are not just talking about a transition from a transitional fuel to another possible fuel. Now we are talking about the survival of society."

Fuel markets

Iran has taken control of Hormuz, which handles 20% of global oil and LNG flows in normal times, after war with Israel and the US broke out Feb. 28, limiting maritime traffic through the choke point to 90% below pre-war levels.

Oil and natural gas prices have increased significantly during the shipping disruption, prompting some environmentalists and policymakers to reinforce the importance of shifting away from fossil fuels to sustainable energy, while others have seen the cost involved in the energy transition.

"Let's not destroy the economy with inflation," Kikilias said. "Let's not increase the energy prices."

Greece is the largest shipowning country within the EU, with Greek-owned ships accounting for more than 19% of the global fleet, according to figures from the Union of Greek Shipowners.

The NEF was designed to place a cost on maritime greenhouse gas emissions from 2028 to prompt a low-carbon energy transition. April's delivered bunker price for 0.5%-sulfur fuel oil in Rotterdam was $17/Gigajoule, compared with $21/Gj for LNG and $35/Gj for bio-LNG, according to the Platts bunker cost calculator, which estimates bunker expenses based on Platts assessments.

Platts is part of S&P Global Energy.

"LNG is the fuel of the present and we will see what the fuel of the future will be," Kikilias said. "Because as far as alternative fuels are concerned, these are currently produced at 0.5% of global needs."

Future discussions

In the same forum, senior executives of Angelicoussis Group and Dynacom Tankers Management expressed opposition to the NZF, and said they do not believe it could be enforced to achieve decarbonization.

"The framework that comes out should be rooted in pragmatism. And I think the Net-Zero Framework is probably the opposite of that," Angelicoussis CEO Maria Angelicoussis said. "We were going to be taxed unless we bunker non-existent green hydrogen-based fuels."

At the same forum, IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said he remains optimistic that member states will eventually reach consensus over the framework even as new geopolitical events are taken into account.

"Geopolitics do have an effect in our work," Dominguez said. "And this is one of those things this organization continues to learn from."

IMO member states are due to hold two weeklong meetings on Sept. 1-4 and Nov. 23-27 to discuss the NZF, respectively, before meeting again on Nov. 30-Dec. 4 to decide on the framework.