What is Annex I of MARPOL 73/78 (Regulation for the Prevention of Pollution by Oil) and discharge regulations?

Written by Amit Sharma
MARPOL Annex I(entered into force on 2nd Oct 1983)
Definitions-

Oil means petroleum in any form including crude oil, fuel oil, sludge oil refuse and refined products (other than those petrochemicals which are subject to the provisions of Annex II of the present convention) and without limiting the generality of the foregoing, includes the substances listed in appendix I to this annex I (ex. diesel oil, lubricating oil, mineral oil etc)

Crude Oil means any liquid hydrocarbon mixture occurring naturally in the earth whether or not treated to render if suitable for transportation and includes.
Crude oil from which certain distillate tractions may have been removed and Crude oil to which certain distillate tractions may have been added.

Oily mixture means a mixture with any oil content oily fuel means any oil used as fuel in connection with the propulsion and auxiliary machinery of the ship in which such oil is carried.

Oil tanker means a ship constructed or adopted primarily to carry oil in bulk in its cargo spaces and includes combination carries, any ‘NLS taker” as defined in Annex II of the present convention and any gas carrier as defied in regulation 320 of chapter II-I of SOLAS 74, when carrying a cargo of part cargo of bill in bulk.

Crude oil tanker means an oil tanker engaged in the trade of carrying crude oil.
Product carrier means an oil tanker engaged in the trade of carrying oil other than crude oil.

Combination carrier means a ship designed to carry either oil or solid cargoes in bulk.

means the rate of discharge of oil in liters per hour at any instant divided by the speed of the ship in knots at the same instant.

Tank means and enclosed space which is formed by the permanent structure of a ship and which is designed for the carriage of liquid in bulk.

Wing tank means any tank adjacent to the side shall plating.

Centre tank means any tank inboard of a longitudinal bulkhead.

Slop tank means a tank specifically designated for the collection of tank draining, tank washings and other oily mixtures.

Clean ballast means the ballast in a tank which, since oil was last carried therein, has been so cleaned that effluent there from if it were discharged from a ship which stationary into clean calm water on a clear day would not produce visible traces of oil on the surface of the water or on adjoining shore lines.

Segregated ballast means the ballast water introduced into a tank which is completely separated from the cargo oil and oil fuel system and which is permanently allocated to the carriage of ballast or to cargoes other than oil or noxious liquid substances.

Nearest land means from the baseline from which the territorial sea of the territory in question is established in accordance with the international law.
Special area means a sea area where for recognized technical reasons in relation to its oceanographically and ecological condition and to the particular character of its traffic the adoption of special mandatory methods for the prevention of sea pollution by oil is required.

List of Special Areas of Annex 1:
  1. Mediterranean Sea
  2. Baltic Sea
  3. Black Sea
  4. Red Sea
  5. Gulf Sea
  6. Gulf of Aden
  7. Antarctic area
  8. North west European water
  9. Oman area of the Arabian Sea
  10. Southern South Africa.
Requirements for machinery spaces of all ships :

Every oil tanker of 150 GT and above & other ships of 400 GT and above

  • Tanks for oil residues (sludge)

Every ship of 400 GT and above shall be provided with a tank or tanks of adequate capacity, having regard to the type of machinery and length of voyage, to receive oil residues which can’t be dealt with otherwise in accordance with the requirement of this annex, such as those resulting from the purification of fuel and lubricating oils and oil leakages in the machinery spaces.
Piping to and from sludge tanks shall have no direct connection overboard, other than the standard discharge connection.

 For all vessels

 Controls of operational discharge of oil Discharge outside special areas

Any discharge into the sea of oil or oily mixtures from ships of 400 GT and above shall be prohibited except when all the following conditions are satisfied.

  1. The ship is proceeding enroute.
  2. The oily mixture is processed through an oil filtering equipment.
  3. The oil content of the effluent without dilution does not exceed 15ppm.
  4. The oily mixture does not originate from cargo pump room bilges on oil tankers and.
  5. The oily mixture, in case of oil tankers is not mixed with oil cargo residues.
Discharge in special areas

Any discharge into sea of oil or oily mixtures from ships 400 GT and above shall be prohibited except when all of the following conditions are satisfied:-

  1. The ship is proceeding enroute.
  2. The oily mixture is processed through an oil filtering equipment ( For vessel of more than 10,000 GT, system should be provided with arrangements to ensure that any discharge of oil mixture is automatically stopped when oil content exceeds 15 ppm ,in addition alarm arrangements shall be provided)
  3. The oily content of the effluent put without dilution does not exceed 15ppm (parts per million).
  4. The oily mixture does not originate from cargo pump room bilges on oil tankers and.
  5. The oily mixture in case of oil tankers is not mixed with oil cargo residues.

In respect of the Antarctic Area, any discharge into the red of oil or oily mixtures from any ship shall be prohibited.

Discharge criteria from Machinery space bilges:-

(In and outside special areas)

  1. The ship is proceeding enroute.
  2. The oily mixture is processed through an oil filtering equipment as required.
  3. The oil content of the effluent without dilution does not exceed 15 ppm.
  4. The oily mixture does not originate from cargo pump room bilges on oil tanker.
  5. The oily mixture in case of oil tankers is not mixed with oil cargo residues.
Discharge regulations for Oil tankers

Discharge of oil from the area of the cargo tank including pump room (Regulation 34, of Annex 1 MARPOL 73/78

Within 50 NM from the nearest land( IN   SPECIAL AREA OR  OUTSIDE SPACE) Any discharge is prohibited with the exception of clean or segregated ballast.
 More than 50NM from the nearest land( OUTSIDE SPECIAL AREA) Any discharge  is prohibited with the exception of clean on segregated ballast on except when:

1. The tanker is proceeding enroute. and

2. The instantaneous rate of discharge oil does not exceed 30ltr/nm and

3. The total quantity of oil discharged into the sea does not exceed for tankers deliver on or before 31 December, 1979. 1/15,000 of the total quantity of the particular cargo of which the residue formed a part. For tankers delivered after 31 December 1979- 1/ 30,000 of the total quantity of the particular cargo of which the residue formed a part and

4. The tanker has in operation an oil discharge monitories and control system and a slop tank arrangement as required  by regulations 29 & 31 of MARPOL annex 1, respectively.   

 
Discharging criteria diff b/w inside special area and outside special area?

Inside special area- The oil mixture is processed through an oil filtering equipment meeting the requirements of regulation  14.7 of the annex.

Outside special area – The oily mixture is processed through an oil filtering equipment meeting the req. of reg. 14 of this annex.

 ( For oil tanker)
Discharge criteria from cargo spaces:-

(Outside special area)

    1. The tanker has in operation an oil discharge monitoring (ODM) & a slop tank arrangements.
    2. The total quantity of discharge is not more than 1/30000 of the quantity of last cargo.
    3. The instantaneous rate of discharge does not exceed 30 Ltr/NM.
    1. The tanker is proceeding en route.
    2. The tanker is 50 NM distant (at least) from nearest land.
    3. The tanker is not within a special area.
    4. No discharge into the sea shall contain chemicals or other substances in quantities or concentrations which are hazardous to the marine environment or chemicals or other substances introduced for the purpose of circumventing the conditions of discharge.

NOTE:- The oil residues which cannot be discharged into the sea in compliance with this regulation shall be retained on board for subsequent discharge to reception facilities.

Segregation of oil and water ballast and carriage of oil:-

The ship other than oil tanker 400 GT and above and in oil tankers 150 GT and above no ballast water shall be carried in any oil fuel tank.

  • Parts per million (PPM) means parts of oil per million parts of water by volume.
  • En route means that the ship is underway at sea on a course or courses, including deviation from the shortest direct route, which as for as practicable for navigational purposes, will cause any discharge to be spread over as great an area of the sea as is reasonable and practicable.
 SOPEP
  • Shipboard  Oil pollution Emergency plan. MARPOL Annex I, Reg. 37 (26)
  • Every tanker 150 GRT & above and other than tanker 400 GRT & above must carry SOPEP.
Contents:-
  1. The procedure to be followed by the master or other persons having charge of the ship to report an oil pollution incident.
  2. The list of authorities or persons to be contacted in the event of an oil pollution incident.
  3. Control procedure : A detailed description of the action to be taken immediately by persons on board to reduce or control the discharge of oil following the incident.
  4. Coastal address : The procedure and point of contact on the ship for coordinating shipboard action with national & local authorities in combating take action against the pollution.
  5. Emergency control plan.
  6. General Arrangement plan.
  7. Fire plan.
SOPEP Equipment :-
  1. Absorbent roll.
  2. Absorbent pads.
  3. Oil booms.
  4. Welden pump.
  5. Absorbent materials Line sawdust, sand etc.
  6. Shovels, scrappers.
  7. Absorbent granules.
  8. Oil booms
  9. Detergent
  10. Sea clean
  11. Dustpan
  12. Garbage bag
  13. Rubber squzee
  14. Mask
  15. Chemical suit
SOPEP Plans

For easy reference the following plan must be included in SOPEP.

  1. Principle particulars of the VSL
  2. General arrangement plan
  3. Capacity plan.
  4. Midship section.
  5. Shell expansion plan
  6. Pumping arrangement.
 Oil Record Book:

As per MARPOL Annex I, Reg. 17 vessels of more than  400 GT  must have oil record book part 1 ( ORB 1), for Machinery space  operation

Contents/Record entry of oil record book PART  1

  1. Ballasting or cleaning of fuel tank
  2. Discharge of dirty ballast or clearing water from fuel tank.
  3. Collection or disposal of oil residue (sludge)
  4. Discharge overboard otherwise of bilge which accumulated in machinery space.
  5. Bunkering of fuel & bulk lube oil.
  6. Event of accidental or other exceptional of oil not expected by regulations , statement must be recorded in oil record book part 1
  7. Any failure of the oil filtering equipment shall be recorded in ORB 1 .

OIL RECORD BOOK PART 1 SHALL BE PRESERVED FOR A PERIOD OF THREE YEARS AFTER THE LAST ENTRY  HAS BEEN MADE.

 Additionally tanker of more than 150 GT will have oil record book part 2(ORB- 2)

For tanker (150 GRT & over)

Contents/Record entry of oil record book PART 2 (CARGO AND BALLAST OPERATIONS)

Non oil tanker 200 cubic m (m3) or more of oil in bulk.

  1. Loading of oil cargo.
  2. Internal transfer of oil cargo during voyage.
  3. Unloading of oil cargo.
  4. Ballasting of cargo tank.
  5. Cleaning of cargo tanks including cow
  6. Discharge of ballast except SBT.
  7. Discharge of water from slope tank.
  8. Closing of all applicable v/v after slope tank discharge operation.
  9. Closing of all v/v after striping of slope tanks & isolating CBT tanks from cargo.
  10. Disposal of residue.

OIL RECORD BOOK PART 2 SHALL BE PRESERVED FOR A PERIOD OF THREE YEARS AFTER THE LAST ENTRY  HAS BEEN MADE

Documents of Annex I
  1. IOPP certificate
  2. ORB part I & II
  3. ODMCS approved by the organization.
  4. Officers specialized oil taken certificate.
  5. Oil filtering equipment approved by org.
  6. SOPEP
  7. Approved cow.
IOPP (International oil pollution & prevention Certificate).
  1. To any oil tanker of 150 GT and above.
  2. To any other ship of 400 GT and above
  3. Maximum  validity 5 years.
  4. Issued by the administration or by any persons or organization duly authorized by it.
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About the author

Amit Sharma

Graduated from M.E.R.I. Mumbai (Mumbai University), After a brief sailing founded this website with the idea to bring the maritime education online which must be free and available for all at all times and to find basic solutions that are of extreme importance to a seafarer by our innovative ideas.