1st January 2011 saw the introduction of an electronic payment system (SPE-CDNI) for the collection and disposal of oily and greasy waste resulting from the operation of vessels. The disposal of this waste is financed by a disposal charge paid by the vessel’s operator. Payment of this charge requires the opening of an ECO account which is the key to accessing the SPE-CDNI.
The CDNI’s electronic payment system (SPE – CDNI) was be migrated to a fully digital system, SPE-CDNI 3.0, on 9 August 2023. That means that boatmasters can pay the disposal fee for oily and greasy waste produced in the course of operating the vessel using a smartphone instead of the ECO card.
Everything starts with the ECO account…
The ECO account is opened by the vessel’s operator or owner with the national institution (NI) of his choice.
Opening the account is preceded by completion of an online registration form. Upon receiving the form, the NI will create an ECO account and give access to the SPE-CDNI app.
The opening of the ECO account will enable the vessel’s operator or owner to credit his ECO account with sufficient funds to cover subsequent disposal charges. The payment is to be made to the NI’s bank account; the NI will ensure that the information on the amounts collected is immediately sent to the SPE-CDNI, then transferred to the depositor’s or account holder’s ECO account. Once this data has been registered in the SPE-CDNI, the amount paid in will be available, for payment of the disposal charge, when purchasing gas oil anywhere within the CDNI’s area of application. Any unused credit may be returned to the depositor at any time.
All users can consult their ECO account online. The ECO account bears the name of the vessel’s operator and/or owner. The corresponding vessel can be selected in the SPE-CDNI app.
Registragion form for opening an ECO-account: https://new.spe-cdni.org/RequestEcoAccount
…and continues with the SPE-CDNI app
© CDNI
The SPE-CDNI app and the printed QR-code enable boatmasters to pay the disposal charge every time they bunker with zero-rated gas oil. Payment of this charge will confer access rights to points of acceptance distributed throughout the contract area, where oily and greasy ship-generated waste can be handed in free of charge.
The SPE-CDNI app is the second component of the SPE-CDNI. It is the direct link between the ECO account and the vessel. The SPE-CDNI app is used to charge the payment of the disposal charge to the ECO account in question.
You can see on the following link how this works in practice: https://www.cdni-iwt.org/neues-spe-cdni-3-0-system/?lang=de