Marshall Islands issued an advisory on MARPOL wastes in EU ports

The Republic of the Marshall Islands Maritime Administrator on 29 August 2023 issued a marine safety advisory about MARPOL wastes in EU ports.

European Union (EU) port State control and local authorities, such as the German Water Police, are strictly enforcing their requirements for waste disposal under the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973 (MARPOL).

The Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) Maritime Administrator has been made aware that ships are being prevented from leaving port until they are compliant with the requirements.

Specifically, EU Directive 2019/883 requires, with certain exceptions, the Master of any ship calling in an EU port to deliver all waste on board to a port reception facility (Article 7). A ship may proceed to the next port of call if it:

...shows that there is sufficient dedicated storage capacity for all waste that has been accumulated and will be accumulated during the intended voyage of the ship to the next port of call;

To provide the methodology for uniformly calculating dedicated storage capacity, the EU issued Regulation 2022/89.

• Annex I contains the arithmetic calculation based on the estimated amounts of waste retained on board in relation to the maximum dedicated storage capacity. This calculation does not apply to waste disposal under MARPOL Annex II or passively fished wastes.
• Annex II provides the waste generation rates for MARPOL Annexes I, IV, V, and VI.

These EU Regulations apply to ports of call between EU ports as well as those between EU ports and non-EU-ports.

A “Group of Additional Selected Ports”* is also regulated (refer to EU Regulation 2022/89, Annex I, Table 1, Thresholds).

*The “Group of Additional Selected Ports” are all ports located in Iceland, Norway, the United Kingdom (including the Isle of Man, Channel Islands, and Gibraltar), and Russian ports located in the Baltic Sea.

Masters of RMI-flagged vessels are advised to pay attention to these requirements.

For more information, please see the document below (available only to subscribers):

MARPOL Wastes in European Union Ports: Calculation of Sufficient Dedicated Storage Capacity