Marlo ERP Ops Management for Maritime Compliance

Maritime compliance obligations have expanded significantly over the past three years. EU ETS reporting, CII ratings, IMO Carbon Intensity requirements, and audit trail obligations now sit alongside existing voyage management and financial reporting workloads. For mid-market shipping companies, the challenge is not understanding what compliance requires — it is operationalising it without adding headcount or maintaining a separate compliance system alongside an already fragmented software stack.

Marlo's ERP ops management module is built to embed compliance reporting directly into the voyage management and finance workflows your team already runs. Emissions data, CII calculations, and EU ETS cost allocations are generated from the same voyage records that drive your P&L, not re-entered into a separate tool.

The compliance problem for mid-market shipping companies

Shipping companies managing compliance manually face three compounding problems.

Data fragmentation. Fuel consumption data sits in the voyage management system. Financial data sits in the accounting system. Emissions calculations happen in a spreadsheet. When regulators or banks ask for auditable compliance records, assembling them requires pulling from three sources and reconciling discrepancies that accumulated during the year.

Late visibility. Most compliance reporting workflows are retrospective. Companies discover their CII rating position or EU ETS liability at quarter-end, when the voyages generating that exposure are already complete. There is no practical corrective action available at that point.

Compliance as administration. When compliance reporting is handled separately from operational decision making, it becomes a pure cost centre. Chartering managers make fixture decisions without visibility into emissions impact. CFOs model EU ETS costs from estimates rather than actuals. The compliance function produces reports but does not inform strategy.

How Marlo handles maritime compliance

Marlo integrates compliance reporting into the core voyage management and finance workflow. Compliance data is generated from voyage records, not maintained separately.

EU ETS reporting

Marlo calculates EU ETS obligations from voyage-level fuel consumption data entered as part of the standard voyage management workflow. For each voyage, the system determines:

• Which legs fall under EU ETS scope (EU port-to-EU port, EU port-to-non-EU port at 50% rate, non-EU port-to-EU port at 50% rate)
• The CO2 equivalent emissions for each fuel type consumed
• The EU ETS cost allocation at current allowance prices
• The running total liability across the fleet for the current compliance year

EU ETS costs are allocated to the relevant voyage P&L automatically, so chartering managers and CFOs see the true economic cost of each voyage — including the emissions component — without a separate calculation step.

CII rating calculations

Marlo tracks Carbon Intensity Indicator ratings at the vessel level throughout the year, updating as voyage data is entered. The system calculates:

• Attained CII for each completed voyage
• Year-to-date CII position for each vessel against the required CII rating for that vessel's type and size
• Projected year-end CII rating based on current trading pattern and remaining open voyages
• The voyage characteristics (speed, cargo, distance, fuel type) that have the greatest impact on CII position

Vessel managers and chartering managers can see each vessel's CII trajectory in real time. When a new fixture is being evaluated, the system shows the estimated CII impact of that voyage before the fixture is accepted.

IMO Carbon Intensity compliance

Marlo generates the data required for IMO Carbon Intensity reporting, including:

• Distance sailed per voyage, verified against AIS data
• Fuel consumed by type (HFO, VLSFO, MGO, LNG, methanol) per voyage
• Cargo carried per voyage
• Annual Efficiency Ratio (AER) and EEXI calculations where applicable

The compliance report is generated directly from voyage records. There is no separate data entry step for IMO reporting.

Audit trail and documentation

Every compliance calculation in Marlo is traceable to its source data. The audit trail records:

• The voyage record that generated the consumption data
• The fuel quantities entered and the date of entry
• The calculation methodology applied
• Any amendments made after initial entry, with timestamp and user identification

When port state control, class societies, or financial institutions request compliance documentation, the full audit trail is exportable from the voyage record.

Compliance integrated with voyage P&L

The distinguishing feature of Marlo's compliance approach is the integration with voyage financial management. Compliance is not a reporting module sitting alongside the voyage system — it is embedded in the voyage P&L.

When a chartering manager is evaluating a fixture in Marlo:

• The voyage estimate includes EU ETS cost as a line item, calculated from the expected fuel consumption and current allowance price
• The estimated CII impact of the voyage is displayed alongside the P&L estimate
• Bunker selection (fuel type, quantity, port) is modelled with its emissions cost implications visible

When the voyage is complete, the actual EU ETS cost is reconciled against the estimate as part of standard voyage closing. The compliance position updates automatically.

This integration means compliance considerations enter commercial decisions before they are made, not after the fact in a quarterly report.

Finance and compliance in one system

For CFOs managing EU ETS as a balance sheet obligation, Marlo provides the financial controls that compliance-only tools do not:

ETS allowance tracking. Marlo tracks allowance purchases, current holdings, and projected surrender obligations for the compliance year. The accrual for EU ETS liability is calculated automatically from voyage data and posted to the accounting system.

Multi-entity compliance consolidation. For shipping groups operating multiple vessel-owning entities, Marlo consolidates the compliance position across all entities in real time. Fleet-level EU ETS exposure, aggregate CII ratings, and total emissions are available without manual consolidation.

Bank and lender reporting. Financial institutions providing shipping finance increasingly require compliance data as part of covenant reporting. Marlo generates standardised compliance summaries suitable for lender reporting directly from the voyage database.

Who uses Marlo for maritime compliance

CFOs and Finance Directors use Marlo to manage EU ETS as a financial obligation — tracking accruals, modelling year-end liability, and producing audit-ready documentation without a separate compliance team.

Operations Managers and Chartering Managers use Marlo to understand the emissions cost of fixtures before accepting them and to monitor each vessel's CII trajectory against annual targets.

Technical Managers and Vessel Managers use Marlo to track fuel consumption against performance benchmarks and identify vessels where operational changes (slow steaming, fuel switching) would have the greatest CII impact.

Compliance capability summary

Implementation

Marlo's compliance module is part of the core platform, not a separately purchased add-on. Companies implementing Marlo for voyage management and finance get the compliance functionality as part of the same implementation.

For companies migrating from a legacy system or spreadsheet-based compliance workflow, the typical implementation timeline is 4-6 weeks. Historical voyage data can be migrated to populate prior-year compliance records where required for audit purposes.

Marlo is a maritime voyage management, finance, and compliance platform for mid-market shipping companies. To see how Marlo handles your specific compliance obligations, visit marlo.co.