Published on: 20 April 2022
Following the ninth session of the IMO’s Pollution Prevention and Response Sub-Committee (PPR) held from 4-8 April, ICOMIA released its summary report. The report details the following areas that were discussed at the meeting that affect the superyacht and leisure industry:
AFS Convention and Biofouling
Following consideration of the report of the working group, the sub-committee agreed to the draft texts of:
- The 2022 Guidelines for brief sampling of anti-fouling systems on ships
- The 2022 Guidelines for inspection of anti-fouling systems on ships
- The 2022 Guidelines for survey and certification of anti-fouling systems on ships
Of particular interest to the leisure and superyacht sectors, is the ban on cybutryne in anti-foul paint and how this will be verified and enforced in the future.
The text of the draft guidelines can be found at annexes 1, 2 and 3 respectively of the embedded documents in the full report (free to download for British Marine members from the website) of the working group in document PPR 9/WP.3.
A guidance document has also been provided in the embedded documents which details how the ban affects the following classes of vessel and what action needs to be taken:
- All vessels
- Vessels over 24m and under 400GT
- Vessels over 400GT
Work continued on the draft revision to the 2011 Guidelines for the control and management of ships’ biofouling to minimise the transfer of invasive aquatic species and the sub-committee agreed to re-establish the correspondence group and to report back to PPR 10.
Revision of MARPOL Annex IV and associated guidelines to introduce provisions for record-keeping and measures to confirm the lifetime performance of sewage treatment plants
The sub-committee continued its work on revision of MARPOL Annex IV and associated guidelines to introduce provisions for record-keeping and measures to confirm the lifetime performance of sewage treatment plants.
The sub-committee agreed to the terms of reference of the group in which consideration for existing vessels will be given to the testing and operational performance of sewage treatment plants, maintenance and record-keeping to improve and document maintenance and treatment operations. In addition, effluent limits for existing ships will be considered.
MARPOL Annex V
Draft amendments to MARPOL Annex V were agreed by the sub-committee. These amendments require the carriage of the Garbage Record Book for ships over 100 GT and under 400 GT. This requirement is expected to enter into force in May 2024.
The full ICOMIA report is free to download for British Marine members from the website here.