Marpol Annex 1
(Simplified)
1 ) Chapter One – Definition, Application &
Exceptions
• Definition of Oil: The term “oil” is referred to as any petroleum protect
either in its raw or refined form or an viscous fluid containing petroleum
products. This means all oil and its mixture except the ones mentioned
under annex 2 of the Marpol. Ex: crude oil, diesel oil, bilges waters
containing traces of oil and other petrol-chemical products.
• Crude oil: A crude oil is the naturally occurring hydrocarbon mixture in
the liquid form suitable to be transported in raw or refined form. It can
be either of the form where certain distillates are being added or of kind
where some distillate fraction be removed.
• Oil Fuel: A liquid hydrocarbon mixture that is sued as a fuel in the main
propulsion and other auxiliary machinery on the ship.
• Oily Mixture: In simple words it meany any fuel oil mixture with water
or other liquids that contains any traces of oil fuel.
• Oil tanker: An oil tanker is a ship designed and constructed to carry oil
in bulk either in its natural or refined form. The tanker which carry
petroleum oil in much of its natural form are called crude oil tankers.
Similarly the tankers which carry refined petroleum are called product
tankers. Under the regulation it shall also include the combination
tankers such as NLS tanker as defined under the annex 2.
• Rate of discharge: Rate of discharge or the instantaneous rate of
discharge is the ratio of oily mixture discharged per hour to the speed of
ship in nautical miles or knots.
• Tanks: A tank is the fixed enclosed structure within the ship with
specific intention to hold liquid in bulk. A tank can be in the form of
dedicated cargo tanks, wing tank, slope tank, center tank, bilge and
ballast tanks.
Application & Exceptions
Provisions of Marpol annex 1 is applicable to all ships unless
mentioned otherwise. All tankers related provisions are also applicable
to non tankers ships; which carry oil in bulk in a capacity of 200 m3 or
more. Similarly where a cargo subjected to annex 2 is carried on a
tanker; the provisions of annex 2 applies.
Furthermore provision 18.6 to 18.8 of the annex does not applicable to
oil tankers made or built before 1 June 1982. This exception is only
given to these ships provided; they operate within their national
waters, special areas and designated limits set by different
organizations.
Similarly, an exception is given to ships allowing them to discharge oil
or oily mixture in the sea under emergency conditions.
These emergency exceptions are applicable in conditions when; there
is an imminent danger to the safety of ship and its crew and
discharging oil or oily water at sea is necessary to ensure their safety.
Similarly, ships are exempted from any legal action or fine if they can
prove the spill occurred due to damage to a ship or its equipment;
provided the ship’s crew take appropriate action to contain the spread
of oil and its damage to the environment.
2 ) Chapter Two – Surveys &
Certification
All ships that is of 400 gross tonnage capacity and above or oil tankers
with capacity more than and equal too 150 grt; are subjected to surveys
under Marpol annex 1.
• Initial Surveys: All ships that to be accepted into service undergo an
initial Marpol annex 1 survey. Done before the issuance of “International
Oil Pollution Prevention Certificate”. It include complete survey of the
ship including its equipment; systems, structure, fittings and machinery.
• Renewal Surveys: A renewal survey is done for the ship on or after the
period of 5 years; after the issuance of International Oil Pollution
Prevention Certificate. These renewal surveys should be throw and
contains all main aspects such as; structural material, equipment’s,
machinery, system and fittings.
Annual Survey: An annual survey including general inspection of
structure, material, fittings, equipment’s and machinery are done within
3 months after each year from the day of issuance of certificate. In
some circumstances this survey can also be done before 3 months
before the next year
• Intermediate survey: Intermediate surveys are done on second or
third anniversary of certificate date. This survey includes in depth
analysis of ship’s equipment, systems, fittings, structure and
machinery. This survey allows for three months extension before and
after the anniversary date; thus replacing the annual survey for the
year.
• Additional survey: If there is any significant or major repair done on
any of the systems, machinery or ship’s structure; which came under
Marpol annex 1 need to have an additional survey after the work is
finished
International Oil Prevention Certificate
IOPP or International Oil Prevention Certificate is issued to each new
ship after inspecting its systems; fittings, structure, machinery and
equipment’s in compliance to the Marpol regulations. Upon the throw
survey all tankers above 150 grt and other ships above 400 grt are
issued this certificate.
This certificate can be issued or endorsed by the authority itself or an
experienced person authorized by it. The certificate drawn must be
either in English, french or Spanish language.
Once issued they are valid for a maximum period of five years with the
renewal surveys to be finished; well within the three months from the
date of expiry.
These certificates can not be issued or renewed for a ship; which has or
had changed to a flag state not signatory to Marpol regulations. In case
the certificate is issued for less than 5 years; the authorities or
authorized surveyor have rights to extend the validity of the certificate
up to 5 years from the date of issuance.
3 ) Chapter Three – Requirements For
Machinery Space of Ships
All ships of and above 400 grt must be equipped with a dedicated tank
of appropriate size. These tanks much be capable enough to handle all
the sludge ( oil residue ) generated during the voyage.
Such tanks that store oil residues that cannot be treated or discharged;
as per the Marpol regulations are called sludge tanks.
Other than the standard discharge connections there should be no
pipping connected to the sludge tank; that may lead them to overboard
discharge
Under Marpol annex 1 all ships above 400grt but less than 10,000 grt;
must be fitted with any form of oil filtering equipment ( Oily water
separator ).
Oily Water Separator
Among all machinery Oily Water Separator ( OWS ) is given a unique
status because of it function and penalties that may imposed because
of its irregularities to the ship owner/manager and criminal punishment
to seafarer under whose duty Oily water separator comes.
As Oily Water Separator is the result of MARPOL 73/78, Annex 1-
Regulations for the Prevention of Pollution by Oil. Ship produce water
and oil on daily basis because of many factors such as leakage of fresh
water pipeline, sea water pipeline, leakage from gland packing /
sealing, accidental leakage within engine room, etc. Oily bilge water is
the mixture of water, oily fluids, lubricants and grease, cleaning fluids
and other wastes that accumulate in the lowest part of a vessel from a
variety of sources. The mixture of oil and water is to be separated and
dirty oil is to be discharged out of the ship by using equipment such as
Oily water separator ( OWS ).
As the name suggest oily water separator is a piece of machinery that
separate oil from water, As per maritime regulations, the oil content in
the water processed from the OWS must be less than 15 parts per
million of oil.
Essential requirements for Oily Water separator:
All parts design for the oily water separator is required to be approved
by the authority or administration.
Approving authority must ensure that the oily water separator pass
through the minimum discharge limit of 15 ppm.
Additional alarms and sensors must be installed on the equipment
where it can’t be monitored and maintained at all time.
Arrangement must be made so the machine automatically cut off
discharge beyond above limit.
Any discharge of oily mixture is prohibited in sea unless the ship is in
route and is discharged through an oily water separator.
Oil record book must be maintained on each discharge on tank to tank
basis.
Control of Discharge of Oil Under Marpol
Annex 1
Under Marpol regulations any non-processed oil or oily mixture is
not allowed to be discharged overboard. Only oily mixture is allowed to
be discharged provided they are filtered by oily water separator and
follow the 15 ppm limit. For ships above 400 grt such discharge from
engine room is permitted provided:
1. The ship is in route.
2. Only certified oily water separators are used filter the oily mixture.
3. The final output from such filter should not contain oil particles more
than 15 ppm limit.
4. The oily mixture treated is only from the engine room bilges and not
from anywhere else; including but not limited to cargo holds / tanks
5. Ship must be at least 12 nautical miles from the nearest land.
6. There must be no mixing of fuel or lube oil with the oily mixture
For discharge under special areas any discharge from cargo space;
whether in form of oil or oily mixture treated or otherwise is prohibited.
On other hand treated oily mixture from machinery space is allowed
as long as the ship is in route; and the oily filter follows the
minimum 15 ppm limit. But in some special areas such as Antarctica
discharge of any kind is prohibited
The discharging liquid should not contain any chemicals which is
detrimental to the marine ecosystem. In case the oily water separator
has undergone repairs; no discharge is allowed unless reified by the
authorities. In case the oily mixture not be discharged as per the
regulation; they must be handed over to the reception facilities.
Discharge of Oil From Cargo Space
Oily mixture from tank holds, pump room and bilges mixed with cargo
oil residue on tankers; must be discharged as per the regulation 34 of
the Marpol annex 1. For oil tankers above 150 grt such discharge from
cargo space and pump room is allowed provided:
1. The ship is in route.
2. It should be at least 50 nautical miles away from the closest land.
3. The ship must not be within any special area.
4. The ship must have dedicated oil content monitoring system with slop
tanks and filtering device.
5. Under no circumstance the discharge liquid should reach the limit of 30
litters per hour.
6. The total oil discharged must not be more than 1/30000 of the total
quantity
4 ) Chapter Four – Requirements For The
Cargo Area Of The Oil Tanker
There are many structural requirements for the cargo area of an oil
tanker; to be in compliance with the Marpol regulations. These
structural features includes; double bottom requirements, segregated
ballast tanks, intact stability, slop tanks, discharge arrangement,
limitation of size, damage assumption and hypothetical oil flow.
• Segregated Ballast Tanks: All crude oil tankers above 20,000 and
product tankers above 30,000 ton dead weight; that is build after 1882
are must to have segregated ballast tanks. These tanks should be of
sufficient capacity so as to operate safely under ballast condition;
without use of cargo tank space.
• Double Bottom or Double Hull Design: Under Marpol annex 1 all oil
tankers delivered on or after 6 July 1996; must be equipped with
double hull structure. It is a hull design where there is two watertight
surfaces between the main cargo tank and outside water. The
regulation 21 of annex 1 clearly bans any single hull ship from carrying
heavy oil.
• Intact Stability: All oil tankers of 5,000 dead-weight or above that is
being delivered on or after February 1, 2002; need to comply with intact
stability criteria of the annex. Basically the metacentric height of the
ship under 0 heel position should not be less than .15 m in ports; and
righting lever must not be less than .20 m at angle of 30 degree heel.
• Slop Tank: Oil tankers above 500 grt that is delivered after 31st
December 1979 must be equipped with dedicated slop tank.
Furthermore adequate means be given to effectively clean and transfer
the tank oil residue to the slop tank.
• Damage Assumption: Damage assumption for hypothetical oil flow is
done according to the regulation 24 of Marpol annex 1. The officer had
to follow the prescribed formulas under the annex to came up with the
result.
Oil Discharge Monitoring & Control System
In subject to regulation 3 of the annex all tankers of and above 150grt
must be equipped with appropriate oil discharge, control and monitoring
system. The system used should be such it kept record of rate of
discharge, oil discharged, oil content, date and time. These records
then should be kept for the next three years for cross check or
verification.
Control systems for such oil discharge and monitoring equipment
should be such that; in event of high oil concentration in the liquid the
discharge should automatically be stopped. Furthermore in event of any
failure to monitor or filter the mixture discharge should automatically
be stopped.
In addition to them, every crude oil tanker which has 20,000 dead
weight or above; must be equipped with effective crude oil washing
system. These crude oil washing systems must then be as per the
regulation 18.7 of the annex 1. The systems must be operated as per
the prescribed manual; except when the crude oil it is carrying is
unstable for the process.
5 ) Chapter Five – Prevention of Oil
Pollution After An Accident
Under regulation 37 under Marpol annex 1 all ships above 400 grt and
oil tankers above 150 grt; must have a shipboard oil pollution
emergency plan ( SOPEP ) on board ship. These emergency plans
need to be approved by the concerned authorities and as per the
guidelines of Marpol regulations.
The plan includes steps to be followed and precautions to be taken by
each crew on board the ship. Being the in charge of the SOPEP it is the
duty of the captain; to monitor and supervise the action plan. An exact
SOPEP plan can differ from one ship to another; based on the type of
ship and cargo it carry
SOPEP Equipment’s
1. Absorbent Pads and Rolls
2. Wilden pump
3. Oil booms
4. Empty drum
5. Bucket
6. Saw dust
7. Scrappers
8. Gloves
9. Mask
10. Oil cleaning chemical
6 ) Chapter Six – Reception Facilities
Reception facilities are vital in better implementation of Marpol
regulations. According to the regulation all signatory parties to the
convention; must provide provision for repairs, oil loading and discharge
of oily mixture at ports. These reception facilities much be adequate in
number avoiding undue delays to ship.
In outside special areas reception facilities must be provide in
accordance to the regulations; in all ports where crude oil is loaded into
tankers having last ballast voyage not more than 72 hours or 1200
nautical miles. Furthermore it should also be available in ports that load
more than 1000 tonnes of oil per day to tankers.
In outside special areas reception facilities must be provide in
accordance to the regulations; in all ports where crude oil is loaded into
tankers having last ballast voyage not more than 72 hours or 1200
nautical miles. Furthermore it should also be available in ports that load
more than 1000 tonnes of oil per day to tankers.
Other than that these facilities must also be provide if the port handles
consistent amount of ships; which cannot discharge oily mixture as per
the required discharge criteria. All reception facilities that take oily water
discharged from the ships must be of sufficient capacity in good
quantity.
7 ) Chapter Seven – Special Requirements
For Fixed/Floating Platforms
Regulation 39 of the annex 1 applies to all floating or fixed oceanic
platforms including but not limited to; drilling rigs, Oil production
facilities, floating platform, Loading and discharging points etc. All such
off shore process that involves exploration, exploitation and processing
deep sea minerals; either floating or fixed must comply to the rules.
They must keep records of all their operations including their
discharges at sea or to some facilities. Such platforms must also be
equipped as per the guidelines of regulation 12 and 14 of the annex.
These platforms or exploitation / exploration units must have
appropriate oily water filter approved by the authorities.
Similar to the oily mixture discharge by the ships’ these platforms must
also comply with the 15 ppm discharge limit. The discharge at sea from
these fixed or floating platforms; must be in any of the following
discharge type: contaminated seawater; machinery space drainage,
offshore processing drainage, production water discharge and
displacement water discharge.
Role of The Crew Under Marpol Annex 1
When it comes to proper implementation of Marpol annex 1 it is the
crew responsibility to follow suit. Marpol regulation requires ship’s crew
to be adequate trained to operate equipment and machinery came
under the regulations. They handles all the oil transfers and discharges
maintaing no oil spill what so ever during bunkering operations.
Key annex 1 equipment such as OCM ( Oil Content Monitor ), OWS (
Oily Water Separator ); and ODMCS ( Oil discharge monitoring control
system ) is operated and maintained by the crew. They are also trained
and instructed of their individual role in case of emergency such as oil
spill; and how to contain its spread.
It is the duty of Captain and chief officer to train and familiarize its
crew with; oil pollution prevention techniques using drills and training.
Every crew must be familiarize with the SOPEP locker and how to use
them when needed. Junior crew and officers must also be trained in
records keeping for; sludge, bilge wells, transfer of oil and tank
cleaning.
It is the duty of the chief engineer and captain to check and ensure all
the entries made in various records book; ex: oil record book must be
correct and countersigned. Furthermore it is also the captain’s duty to
inform the senior officials and local administration about any oil spill if
what soever.
Record Keeping : Oil Record Book
Record keeping is an important aspects of Marpol regulations as it
helps in proper compliance of the law. Under annex 1 all oil tankers
above 150 grt or all ships above 400 grt to carry oil record book. They
need to be in two form; one dedicated for the cargo tanks in oil tankers
and other for the machinery space.
Each record book contain some basic information such as; the name of
the ship, its IMO number, owners details, capacity of the ship in grt,
official numbers, some basic instructions and period of use. The part
one of the oil record book is mandatory for all ship types and applicable
to its machinery space.
On another hand part two of the oil record book is only applicable to the
cargo and ballast space of oil tankers. These are to be carried on
tankers above 150 grt in addition to the ORB-part 1. These records are
to be then preserved for the next 3 years from the date of last entry
made on ORB part 1 and 2.
Content’s of Oil Record Book As Per
Marpol Annex 1 – Part I
1. Bunkering operation – Fuel and Lube oil
2. All activity concerning oily mixtures
3. Date, quantity, tank name or number, operation type and position of
ship.
4. Ballasting, cleaning and deblasting of fuel tank
5. Storage or discharge of sludge
6. Manual discharge of Oily mixture overboard
7. Automatic Discharge through OWS
8. Accidental discharge if any
9. Transfer of bilges
10. Additional space for Adding Remarks.
Content’s of Oil Record Book As Per
Marpol Annex 1- Part II
1. Internal transfer of oil from one tank to another.
2. Loading or discharge of crude oil
3. COW / Cleaning of cargo tanks
4. Blasting and deblasting of cargo tanks
5. Discharge of clean or dirty ballasts
6. Discharged of oily mixture from slop tank
7. Accidents or accidental oil discharge
8. Discharge to reception facilities
9. All major valve operation in the task
10. Any other disposal ex: residue disposal
