IMO NEWS
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SPRING 2019
NEWS
Bunker delivery note and carriage ban amendments A
mendments to the bunker delivery note relating to the supply of marine fuel oil to ships which have fitted alternative mechanisms to address sulphur emission requirements entered into force on 1 January 2019. The amendment entered into force as the shipping industry counts down to 1 January 2020, when the limit for sulphur in fuel oil will be reduced to 0.50% m/m outside emission control areas (ECAs), from the current 3.5%. The new limit under IMO’s MARPOL treaty will have significant benefits for the environment and human health. In ECAs, the limit will remain at 0.10% m/m. The amendments to Appendix V of MARPOL Annex VI are intended to address situations where the fuel oil supplied does not meet low sulphur requirements, but has been supplied to a ship which is using an alternative compliance method permitted under regulation 4 of MARPOL Annex VI (“Equivalents”) to reduce the sulphur oxide emissions of the ship. An equivalent means may be abatement technology, such as an exhaust gas cleaning system (“scrubber”), if accepted by the flag State of a ship as an alternative means to meet the sulphur limit requirement. The bunker delivery note shall include a declaration, signed and certified by the fuel oil supplier’s representative, that the fuel oil supplied conforms with regulation 18.3 of MARPOL Annex VI and that the sulphur content of the fuel oil supplied does not exceed: • the limit outside ECAs (currently 3.50%, falling to 0.50% from 1 January 2020) under regulation 14.1; • the limit in emission control areas (0.10% m/m) under regulation 14.4; or • the purchaser’s specified limit value, on the basis of the
purchaser’s notification that the fuel oil is intended to be used: 1. in combination with an equivalent means of compliance; or 2. is subject to a relevant exemption for a ship to conduct trials for sulphur oxides emission reduction and control technology research. The 0.10% m/m limit applies in the four established ECAs: the Baltic Sea area; the North Sea area; the North American area (covering designated coastal areas off the United States and Canada); and the United States Caribbean Sea area (around Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands). In October 2018, IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) adopted a further amendment to MARPOL Annex VI, which will prohibit the carriage of non-compliant fuel oil for combustion purposes for propulsion or operation on board a ship - unless the ship has an equivalent compliance method. This amendment is expected to enter into force on 1 March 2020, and will (among other things) amend the form of the International Air Pollution Prevention Certificate (IAPP Certificate), so that it specifies that, for a ship without an approved equivalent arrangement, the sulphur content of fuel oil carried for use on board the ship shall not exceed 0.50% m/m as documented by the bunker delivery note.
Chinese rescue diver awarded IMO bravery prize
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rescue diver from China who made a series of underwater dives to rescue three people from a sunken cargo ship, received the 2018 IMO Award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea during the IMO Awards ceremony last December. Mr. Zhong Haifeng, senior diver and deputy of the Engineering Team of Guangzhou Salvage was recognized for his tireless efforts under highly dangerous circumstances, repeatedly diving into the dark and submerged cargo hold of a ship to bring out survivors. He was nominated for the award by the Government of China. Mr. Zhong said it was an honour to be conferred the award, as a confirmation of China’s efforts in search and rescue and a huge encouragement to his team and to himself. “In China in our business we have a motto: prompt a hope of living unto others, and save the risks of death to ourselves,” Mr. Zhong said (speaking through an interpreter). “It is this motto that spurs our divers. To dive again and again, over and over, into the waters, to save those in danger from the brink of death. Every time, I saw the people who are saved. We looked into their eyes. We saw despair change into hope. We witnessed them breaking into tears. It is in that moment that our heart was filled with all type of emotions.”
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The incident occurred in November 2017. Following a collision with another ship, in Guangzhou Port, China, the bulk carrier M.V.Jin Ze Lun sank. Of the 14 crew on board, two were immediately rescued by local maritime authorities but 12 remained missing. The bulk carrier was lying on the seabed, in the main channel into the port, and a strong current made the underwater search and rescue operation extremely difficult. Mr. Zhong was put in charge of the desperate search for survivors. After 36 hours of repeated dives, six survivors were located, trapped in the cargo hold. Mr. Zhong instructed his team to replenish oxygen to the cabin and talk to the trapped survivors, to calm them. Mr. Zhong then dived down to the cargo hold alongside a teammate, bringing scuba diving equipment for those trapped underneath. In the afternoon of 28 November, Mr. Zhong dived down six times. He taught survivors how to put on and use scuba diving equipment and personally rescued three of them in the space of one hour, despite becoming extremely exhausted.
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