Titan Clean Fuels, part of Molgas, has completed its first pooling exercise under the FuelEU Maritime regulation for the 2025 compliance period, with verification provided by DNV.

The pool included several hundred vessels, according to the company, balancing operators with compliance deficits against those with positive compliance balances.

"The conclusion of this first pooling round is providing the proof of concept for our FuelEU pooling service, which we are aiming to roll out to the benefit of even more over- and under-compliant vessels in 2026 and the following years," said Grégoire Hartig, Commercial Director at Titan.

According to Titan, it manages the FuelEU pooling process from end to end, including the provision of over-compliant liquefied biomethane (LBM), accepting or excluding new vessels, and the verification of the pool by DNV. The company states it takes full contractual responsibility along the chain, enabling it to drive the generation of compliance and respond to bunker and pooling market dynamics. Its know-your-customer processes are said to ensure all pooling counterparts fulfil their financial commitments and abide by sanctions.

As a bunker vessel owner, Titan also manages its own ships in the pool. During this pooling period, approximately 73% of the LNG consumption by Titan's Optimus bunker vessel was liquefied biomethane, also known as bio-LNG. The company expects that figure to reach about 100% LBM in the next pooling phase.

"Pooling was designed to provide a competitive advantage to all alternative fuels, with LNG and LBM in particular delivering on the regulation's potential today. Our customers running LNG-fuelled vessels were able to benefit from their early investment in cleaner propulsion, and several LNG-fuelled vessels chose to run on LBM, backed by the value generated from pooling," Hartig added.

According to Titan, the progress demonstrates that the European Commission has designed and implemented FuelEU Maritime well. The company describes the pooling mechanism as an essential, flexible and well-thought-out tool that pushes the shipping industry's transition towards low-carbon propulsion.

As shipowners and operators look to improve their environmental performance, create value and manage their exposure to FuelEU penalties, pooling is set to be a shipping trend to watch in 2026 and beyond, the company stated.