P-Directorate General Information

Annex V Garbage

The revised MARPOL Annex V Regulations for the prevention of pollution by garbage from ships has entered into force, following a comprehensive review to bring the Annex up to date.

The main feature of the revision is the prohibition of the discharge of all garbage into the sea except as expressly provided otherwise in the Annex. The discharges permitted in certain circumstances include food wastes, animal carcasses, cargo residues, and water containing cleaning agents or additives used for washing deck and external surfaces or cargo holds.

Cargo residues and cleaning agents and additives must only be considered for discharge if they are not harmful to the marine environment. The changes also include the updating of definitions; the introduction of an “en route” requirement for the discharge of garbage at sea; and the regrouping of the garbage categories for the purpose of the garbage record book.

SOLAS amendments on lifeboat safety enter into force

Amendments to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) aimed at preventing accidents during lifeboat launching entered into force on 1 January 2013.

The amendments, adopted in May 2011, add a new paragraph 5 to SOLAS regulation III/1, to require lifeboat on-load release mechanisms not complying with new International Life-Saving Appliances (LSA) Code requirements to be replaced, no later than the first scheduled dry-docking of the ship after 1 July 2014 but, in any case, not later than 1 July 2019.

The SOLAS amendment is intended to establish new, stricter, safety standards for lifeboat release and retrieval systems, and will require the assessment and possible replacement of a large number of lifeboat release hooks.