BIMCO published its Biofuel Clause for Time Charter Parties in June. It sets out how biofuel is handled on a time charter: specifications, notice, quality, and how long the fuel can remain on board.
A few things are worth noting. Here are two.
First, the clause makes room to put a value on something other clauses leave unpriced. Biofuel left on board at redelivery. Sub-clause (l) lets the parties write in a price for it: owners take it over "at [insert currency and amount] per ton."
If no price is filled in, that sub-clause does not apply, and the leftover biofuel is priced by the charter's normal redelivery bunker clause, which was written for fossil fuel. In most fixtures that means the fuel is valued at the conventional price.
In plain terms: the side that paid a premium for biofuel may hand it back at the fossil price, and the side taking it over may receive fuel that still carries compliance value for the price of ordinary fuel. Neither result is wrong. It just needs to be a choice, not an accident.
Second, the clause covers the fuel, not the compliance value of the fuel. The words "sustainability," "certification," "ETS" and "CII" do not appear in it. It does not decide who gets the FuelEU surplus or who avoids the allowance cost. That sits in other BIMCO clauses: the FuelEU Maritime Clause and the ETS Allowances Clause.
So a biofuel fixture is really a set of clauses working together. One for the fuel, one for the FuelEU balance, one for the allowances. Used on its own, the biofuel clause describes the fuel and leaves the money, and the compliance documents, to be handled elsewhere.
The clause does its job, and it does it well. Whether you charter in or charter out, it is worth reading closely.