Learning Outcome 2

Marine Law
Lesson 11

HNC Nautical Science

Marine Law & Management
 Recap
• What area of shipping does SOLAS Chapter
V cover?
• Name two Codes which are derived from
SOLAS
 Aim
• To introduce the content of legislation and
guidance concerning pollution and the
environment
 Objectives
By the end of the session the student will be able to:
• List the annexes of MARPOL
• State the concepts for preventing oil pollution
• List the ‘Special Areas’ for oil pollution
• Classify the regulations for the disposal of
garbage at sea
• List the ‘Special Areas’ for garbage pollution
• Explain the regulations regarding air pollution
The Development of Marpol 73/78
• In 1967, the tanker ‘Torrey Canyon’ ran
aground while entering the English Channel
and spilled her entire cargo of 120,000 tons of
crude oil into the sea. 
Then, the IMO Assembly decided in 1969 to convene an
international conference in 1973 to prepare a suitable
international agreement for placing restraints on the
contamination of the sea, land and air by ships.
 MARPOL -Objectives
• Objectives: To preserve the marine
environment through the complete
elimination of pollution by oil and other
harmful substances and the minimisation of
accidental discharge of such substances.
 MARPOL 73/78
• The International Convention for the
Prevention of Pollution of Ships, was adopted
in 1973. This Convention was subsequently
modified by the Protocol 1978 relating
thereto, which was adopted in 1978. The
Protocol introduced stricter regulations for the
survey and certification of ships. It is to be
read as one instrument and is usually referred
to as MARPOL 73/78.
 Annexes of MARPOL 73/78
• Annex I Regulations for the Prevention of Pollution by Oil (Entry
into force -2 October 1983 )
• Annex II Regulations for the Control of  Pollution by Noxious
Liquid Substances in Bulk (6 April 1987 )
• Annex III Prevention of Pollution by Harmful Substances Carried
by Sea in Packaged Form(1 July 1992 )
• Annex IV Prevention of Pollution by Sewage from Ships(27
September 2003)
• Annex V Prevention of Pollution by Garbage from Ships(31
December 1988 )
• Annex VI Prevention of Air Pollution from Ships(19 May 2005)
 EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES
• The provisions of MARPOL
• All Annexes with regard to discharge at sea shall not apply
when:
• Discharge into the sea is necessary for the purpose of securing the
safety of the ship or saving life at sea;
• Any discharge into the sea resulting from damage to the ship and
its equipment;
• Provided that all reasonable precautions have been taken after the
occurrence of the damage or discovery of the discharge for the
purpose of preventing or minimising the discharge and the owner
or master did not act recklessly or with intent to cause damage
 Legislation requirement
• Release of oil cargoes into the sea will cause
pollution damage to the marine environment,
the sea, seabed and the land adjacent to the
sea are affected by the indiscriminate disposal
of hydrocarbons.
• Legislation was required to minimise the
harmful effects of these commodities being
released into the sea.
 Pollution Prevention areas of change.

The enormous political pressures to protect the

environment from shipping and the results of
the ‘MARPOL’ Convention have created major
changes to maritime law in the fields of:
‘Ship Design’, ‘Ship Construction’, ‘Equipment on
board’, ‘Training’, ‘Issuing of certificates to verify
compliance’ , ‘Operation’ and a range of fines/
penalties for infringement of the law.
 Special Areas – MARPOL Annex 1
• These are areas which have particular
problems because of heavy maritime traffic or
low water exchange caused by the land-locked
nature of the sea concerned.
 MARPOL Annex I – Special Areas
• Mediterranean Sea
• Baltic Sea
• Black Sea
• Red Sea
• Gulfs area
• Gulf of Aden
• Antarctic
• North West European Waters
• Oman Area of the Arabian Sea
• Southern South African Waters
Control of Operational Discharge of Oil –
Machinery Spaces
Limit the amount of oil entering the water
Any discharge into the sea of oil or oily mixtures
from ships of 400 gross tonnage and above shall
be prohibited except when all the following
conditions are satisfied:
a) the ship is proceeding en route
b) the oily mixture is processed through
an oil filtering equipment (OWS)
c) the oil content of the effluent without
dilution does not exceed 15 parts per
million(15ppm)
d) the oily mixture does not originate from
cargo pump-room bilges on oil tankers;
and
e) the oily mixture, in case of oil tankers, is
not mixed with oil cargo residues.
Control of Operational Discharge of Oil – Cargo Tanks of Oil Tankers
(more than 150 grt)

1) Limit the amount of oil entering the water

1) Limit the amount of oil entering the sea such that it
does not cause pollution.
Any discharge of oily mixtures from cargo spaces
must comply with the following conditions:
a) the tanker is not in a Special Area;
b) the tanker is more than 50 miles from the
nearest land;
c) the tanker is proceeding en route;
d) the instantaneous rate of discharge of oil
content does not exceed 30 litres per mile;
e) the total quantity of oil discharged into the
sea does not exceed 1/15,000 (tankers pre 31
Dec 1979) or 1/30,000 (post 31 Dec 1979) of
the total quantity of the particular cargo of
which the residue formed a part, and;
f) the tanker has in operation an oil discharge
monitoring and control system and has a slop
tank arrangement.
• This system must automatically stop the
discharge if the instantaneous rate of
discharge of oil content exceeds 30 litres per
mile.
• There must be a permanent recording device
to record discharge of oil in litres per mile and
total quantity discharged, identifiable with
time and date.
• This record to be kept for 3 years.
 Annex II
• Control of Pollution by Noxious Liquid
Substances Annex II deals with regulations
pertaining to the carriage and discharge of
chemicals carried at sea by bulk chemical
carriers. Discharge criteria are established for
different types of chemicals in different
operating environments, and standards have
been established for tank washing and
associated pumping and piping arrangements.
 Annex III
• Annex III: Prevention of Pollution by Harmful
Substances in Packaged Form Annex III deals
with harmful substances carried in packaged
forms including freight containers and
portable tanks. It provides guidelines for
packaging, labelling, stowage and
documentation of such substances. 5
 Annex IV
• Annex IV: Prevention of Pollution by Sewage
from Ships Annex IV contains requirements to
control pollution of the sea by sewage.
 MARPOL Annex V – Special Areas
(diff. types of garbage)
• Mediterranean Sea/Baltic Sea/Black Sea/
• Red Sea/Gulfs area/North Sea /Antarctic
• Wider Caribbean
• NOTES:
• Governments must provide garbage reception
facilities at ports and terminals
• Complete ban on the dumping of all forms of
plastic
 Control of air pollution from ships
Annex VI of MARPOL sets limits on emissions of
sulphur oxide (SOx) and nitrogen oxide (NOx)
from ship exhausts and will prohibit deliberate
emissions of ozone-depleting substances.
 Special Areas – Annex VI
• Baltic sea (SOx)
• North sea (SOx)
• North American (SOx, NOx and Particulate
Matter)
• Caribbean Sea ECA (SOx, NOx and Particulate
Matter)
 Nitrogen Oxide Emissions
Sets NOX emission limits for diesel engines with a
power output of more than 130kW installed on
ships built on or after 1 January 2000
• It does not apply to emergency diesel engines,
engines installed in lifeboats and any device or
equipment intended to be used solely in case of
emergency, or engines installed on ships solely
engaged in voyages within waters subject to the
sovereignty or jurisdiction of the flag State.
 Sulphur Oxide Emissions
“SOx Emission Control Areas” where the
adoption of special mandatory measures for SOx
emissions from ships is required to prevent,
reduce and control air pollution from Sox
• In these areas the sulphur content of fuel oil
used on ships must not exceed 1.5% m/m.
Alternatively, ships in these areas must fit an
exhaust gas cleaning system or use any other
technological method to limit SOx emissions.
SOx Emission Control Areas
California Emission Zone
 Shipboard Incineration
Bans the incineration of:
• MARPOL Annex I, II and III cargo residues and related
contaminated packing materials;
• polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs);
• garbage, as defined in MARPOL Annex V, containing more than
traces of heavy metals; and refined petroleum products
containing halogen compounds.
 Shipboard Incineration
* incineration of sewage sludge and sludge oil
generated during the normal operation of a ship may
take place in the main or auxiliary power plant or
boilers (as well as in an incinerator), but in those
cases, must not take place inside ports, harbours and
estuaries.
* prohibits the shipboard incineration of polyvinyl
chlorides (PVCs), except in incinerators for which IMO
Type Approval Certificates have been issued.
 The Amendments to MARPOL
• Are made regularly and generally they
facilitate the implementation of annexes,
extend the concept of "special areas",
establish more sea areas as "special
• areas", replace list of substances, design new
construction
• standards for ships, precise reporting
requirements and reduce
• amount of oil which can be discharged into
the sea from ships.
 Objectives
By the end of the session the student will be able to:
• List the annexes of MARPOL
• State the concepts for preventing oil pollution
• List the ‘Special Areas’ for oil pollution
• Classify the regulations for the disposal of
garbage at sea
• List the ‘Special Areas’ for garbage pollution
• Explain the regulations regarding air pollution
 Next Lesson

Health & Safety Legislation