PPR 5 agrees on the outline of IMO draft guidelines for implementation of the 2020 sulphur limit
Preparations for 2020 moved forward at the 5th session of the Sub-Committee on Pollution Prevention and Response (PPR 5), which met 5-9 February at the International Maritime Organization’s headquarters, IBIA said in its press release.
In addition to high-priority discussions to make it an offence to carry bunkers above 0.50% sulphur, PPR 5 agreed on the outline of draft guidelines for consistent implementation of regulation 14.1.3 of MARPOL Annex VI (the regulation on the 0.50% limit).
Development of these guidelines will continue at a PPR intersessional meeting on consistent implementation of the 2020 sulphur limit, to be held 9 to 13 July 2018.
The guidelines would cover:
Preparatory and transitional issues, relating to how ships can prepare for implementation, including calculations of how long prior to 1 January 2020 they need to begin cleaning out fuel tanks and fuel systems;
Assessing impact on fuel and machinery systems resulting from using new fuel blends or fuel types;
Verification issues and control mechanism and actions, including monitoring measures that can be used by port State control to effectively target non-compliance and how to deal with in-use fuel oil samples;
Fuel oil non-availability, including guidance on how to deal with various situations, information sharing and a standard format for reporting non-availability;
Safety implications relating to the option of blending fuels;
Other useful guidance/information that assist Member States and stakeholders, including guidance addressing quality assurance and integrity of the supply chain and on the importance of fuel oil management on board.
The PPR intersessional meeting in July will work on development of the draft guidelines.
Two papers submitted by IBIA to PPR 5 will be forwarded to the July meeting for consideration when formulating the guidelines.
