Port State Control plays an important role in enforcing international garbage management regulations, ensuring ships comply with MARPOL Annex V to prevent marine pollution
MARPOL Annex V states that Port State Control Officers (PSCOs) may inspect a foreign-flagged ship at a port or offshore terminal of their state “where there are clear grounds for believing that the master or crew are not familiar with essential shipboard procedures relating to the prevention of pollution by garbage.” In this context, duly authorized officers may inspect the Garbage Management Plan, Garbage Record Book, and the garbage-handling practices followed on board.
The PSCO will assess whether all operational requirements of MARPOL Annex V have been met. They will also check if port reception facilities have been used properly and note any alleged inadequacies of such facilities. Documentation related to the delivery of garbage to reception facilities will be subject to review and inspection.
The PSCO may also determine whether:
- ship’s personnel are aware of latest IMO Guidelines for implementation of MARPL Annex V, in particular section 2 on “Garbage management”
- ship’s personnel are familiar with the disposal and discharge requirements under MARPOL Annex V inside and outside a special area and are aware of the areas determined as special areas under MARPOL Annex V (and POLAR Code if applicable)
When reception facilities in other ports have not been used because of inadequacy, the PSCO should advise the master to report the inadequacy of the reception facility to the ship’s flag State.
Where a PSC Officer has clear grounds for believing that the master or crew are not familiar with essential shipboard procedures relating to the prevention of pollution by garbage, the ship may be detained until the situation has been remedied. As per IMO PSC procedure the following are included as clear ground for detention under MARPOL Annex V:
- Absence of garbage management plan.
- No garbage record book available.
- Ship’s personnel not familiar with disposal/discharge requirements of garbage management plan
Global PSC Memorandum of Understanding on PSC (MoU) have set a number of deficiency codes to describe the findings of MARPOL Annex V included in Deficiency Area Pollution Prevention as follows:
- 14501 – Garbage
- 14502 – Placards
- 14503 – Garbage management plan
- 14599 – Other (MARPOL Annex V)
As shown in Table below, vessels were detained 143 times over the past 36 months due to issues related to garbage and waste management on board.
Within the Paris MoU region, 53 detentions were recorded, while the Tokyo MoU region accounted for 65 detentions. These two MOUs together, represent the majority of garbage- and waste-related detentions.
Nearly half of these detentions were related to documentation issues (codes 14502 and 14503), while the remaining half were due to more “operational” reasons (codes 14501 and 14599). These operational issues are primarily related to the handling of waste and the implementation of regulations.
