MARINE Guidance NOTE

MGN 253 (M+F)

Port Waste Reception Facilities Regulations 2003

Notice to Ship Owners and Operators, Agents, Masters, Port and Harbour Authorities and Marina and Terminal Operators

Summary

This note gives information about new requirements on ships in the Merchant Shipping and Fishing Vessels (Port Waste Reception Facilities) Regulations 2003.

For ships, the main new requirements are to notify ports in advance of arrival of the waste on board and to deliver waste to reception facilities before leaving port.  

Introduction

1.  Directive 2000/59/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on port reception facilities for ship-generated waste and cargo residues is implemented in the UK through the Merchant Shipping and Fishing Vessels (Port Waste Reception Facilities) Regulations 2003.  Please study these Regulations carefully.  They revoke the Merchant Shipping (Port Waste Reception Facilities) Regulations 1997 and supersede Merchant Shipping Notice 1709 ‘Port Waste Management Plans’.

2.  Guidance for ports is given in the booklet ‘ Port Waste Management Planning - A Guide to Good Practice’ which can be obtained from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) or viewed on the MCA website (www.mcga.gov.uk).

Main changes

3.  There are three significant changes under the new Regulations:

·         Ships must provide notification before entry into port, of the waste they will discharge, including information on types and quantities.  Fishing vessels and recreational craft authorised to carry, or normally carrying, no more than twelve passengers will not have to do this.

·         Ships must deliver their waste to port reception facilities before leaving port, unless they have sufficient dedicated storage capacity for the waste and for it to be accumulated until the port of call. In addition the notification form must show this.

·         Ships must pay a mandatory charge to cover the cost of port reception facilities for ship generated waste, whether they use them or not.  This does not apply to fishing vessels or recreational craft authorised to carry, or normally carrying, no more than twelve passengers.

Notification

4.  The information ships must supply to ports is set out in Schedule 2 of the Regulations.  It includes information on the type of waste to be delivered, dedicated storage capacity, amount to be retained on board, the port at which the remaining waste will be delivered and the estimated amount of waste to be generated between notification and next port of call.

5.  A copy of the notification form must be kept on board, although the information on the form may be passed electronically or by some other means if the port offers facilities to allow this.  The information should be sent to the harbour authority or terminal operator responsible for port waste management planning at the port or terminal.  It is expected that in most cases, for convenience, this information will be provided by the ship through the ship’s agent.  Ports and terminals must tell ships who to send the information to.

6.  The information must be provided at least 24 hours before the ship is to arrive, or if the port is not known until less than 24 hours, as soon as the destination is known, or if the voyage is less than 24 hours, at the latest on departure from the previous port.  A copy of the notification form must be kept on board until at least the next port of call is reached and be produced on request.  Ships which fail to provide the correct notification may be targeted for inspection by MCA.

7.  In addition to notifying, ships must, of course, separately make whatever arrangements are necessary to land the waste in accordance with the normal practice of the harbour or terminal.

Delivery of waste

8.  All ships must deliver waste to a waste reception facility before they leave port.  The only exceptions to this are ships that have sufficient dedicated storage capacity on board to hold waste, and the additional waste which will be generated during the remainder of the voyage, until the ship reaches the port at which it proposes to deliver its waste. The notification information must show that MCA officials may direct such a ship to deliver waste if they are not satisfied that there is sufficient storage capacity or have good reason to believe that there are inadequate reception facilities at the proposed port, or if the port is unknown and there is a risk that the waste will be discharged at sea

9.  Under the regulations, waste has to be estimated by volume (cubic metres), but ships may, for convenience, also estimate the waste in weight  (kilograms).  

Mandatory charge

10.     All ships, except fishing vessels or recreational craft authorised to carry, or normally carrying, no more than twelve passengers, must pay the port or terminal the charge for providing waste reception facilities.  For any port, and for any terminal within a port, the body which was responsible for receiving the prior notification and the body which was responsible for charging would be decided as part of the waste management planning process.

Exemptions

11.     MCA may exempt ships from one or more of the following: notification, mandatory delivery and/or paying a waste charge at each port.  To be exempted, ships must be engaged in ”Scheduled traffic with frequent and regular port calls” and give evidence “of an arrangement ensuring the delivery of ship-generated waste and payment of charges in a harbour or terminal along the ship’s route”.  (Regulation 15(3)).  It is expected that ferries will fall into this category, and other ships, which call in at the same UK port at least once a fortnight.  Applications should normally made to the MCA office closest to the base port, or the first port of call in the UK if calling in more than one port.  The MCA will charge for issuing an exemption. The exemption, if granted will last for five years, or until any of the arrangements are changed, whichever comes first.  MCA must be notified in writing of any changes to the route of the ship or the arrangements for disposing or paying for waste disposal.  MCA will hold a database of ships that have been given an exemption.

12.     Workboats and pilot boats and other similar vessels that operate principally within an harbour authority area fall outside the scope of the requirement to notify, deliver or pay charges on each port call as they are not “bound” for a port (Regulation 11 (1)), and do not “leave” a port (Regulation 12(1)).  The port waste management plan should include the arrangements for the disposal of waste generated by such vessels.   Similarly, passenger vessels that operate within a harbour authority area but are not owned or operated on behalf of the port would fall outside the scope, but they must lay down the arrangements for waste disposal in their Domestic Safety Management Code (DSM) which is subject to approval by MCA.

  What if facilities are inadequate?

13.     Under the Regulations ports must provide adequate reception facilities to receive the types and quantities of waste from ships normally using the port.  There is also a requirement under the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution by Ships 1973, as modified by the Protocol of 1978 relating thereto (usually known as MARPOL 73/78) that all signatory States must provide adequate reception facilities.  Every port, harbour, terminal and marina in the UK must have a port waste management plan detailing how their waste is dealt with.  They must carry out on-going consultations with port users and make available information on how to report alleged inadequacies of waste reception facilities.

14.     When possible, the Master of a ship faced with a lack of reception facilities should bring the alleged inadequacy to the attention of the port concerned.  If the problem is not resolved to his satisfaction, the Master should complete the annexed form either directly, or through the shipowner, and send it to MCA at the following address:

Head of Environmental Quality Branch

Maritime and Coastguard Agency

Spring Place

105 Commercial Road

Southampton SO15 1EG

For inadequacies in UK ports the Master should state in the ‘additional remarks/comments’ section whether the consultation process or the port waste management plan does not meet the requirements.

15.     MCA will investigate the report and where, in its opinion the allegation of inadequate facilities is justified it will:

(i)  in the case of non-UK ports inform the port state of the alleged inadequacy and also notify the IMO Secretariat.

(ii) in the case of UK ports, take up the matter of the alleged inadequacy directly with the port and/or terminal concerned and notify the European Commission. 

Guidance

16. This Marine Guidance Note (MGN) supercedes MGN 82.  Merchant Shipping Notice 1462 also no longer applies as it promulgated guidance given by IMO which has itself been superceded by IMO’s Comprehensive Manual on Port Reception Facilities.

17.     Any questions about this Notice should be referred, in the first instance to MCA’s Environmental Quality Branch, telephone 023 8032 9481.

 May 2003

Maritime and Coastguard Agency
Spring Place
Southampton SO15 1EG

Tel:    023 8032 9481
Fax:   023 8032 9204

File Reference MS 34/19/49

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