MARPOL 73/78
The American P&I Club issues circular regarding Additional Guidance on Oily Water Separators as follows:
On February 9, 2006 your Managers issued Circular No. 01/06 offering Members guidance on preventative measures needed to protect themselves from possible MARPOL violations.
Since the issue of that Circular, and particularly of late, your Managers have become aware of a significant increase in activity by the US Coast Guard concerning oily water separators and associated electronic monitoring equipment. This has involved Coast Guard officers comparing oil record book entries to the electronically recorded history in the memory of the monitoring equipment.
While Members are reminded of this recording function in more modern installations, it is also important to recognize that, frequently, when monitoring equipment has been serviced or repaired, the original equipment will have been replaced by the more modern technology with the recording function.
Chief engineers should be aware of this when compiling oil record book entries, and they should be able to demonstrate to any port state control inspector how to display the recorded history held within the monitoring equipment.
As a general reminder to Members, it is crucial that consistency is maintained at all times between electronically recorded data and entries in oil record books, log books and sounding books. Simple errors can lead to significant fines and delays to vessels.
Source: The American P&I Club
