Environmental Legislation Outlook

At the 2017 GREEN4SEA Conference, Stamatis Fradelos, Principal Engineer, Operational & Environmental Performance (OEP), ABS, provided briefly the current “Environmental Legislation Outlook” concerning the BWM Convention, the unsettled implementation scheme and the USCG requirements including the type approval program and the recently revised extensions policy; the establishment of the North Sea area (including the English Channel) and the Baltic Sea area as new NOx Emission Control Areas; the decision on the applicability of global sulphur cap 0.5% after 1 January 2020; the EU Ship Recycling Regulation; the attained and required EEDI; and the monitoring and reporting requirements and implementation dates for the EU MRV and the IMO data collection system.

We are currently expecting many important regulatory developments. The Baltic Sea and North Sea are becoming NOx Emission Control areas in 2021, the 0.5% Sulphur Cap will be effective in 2020 and so does the EEDI Phase 2 while the EEDI Phase 3 is expected beyond 2025, the IMO Data Collection System is starting in 2019, EU Ship Recycling Regulation and IHM for new vessels in 2019 and for existing vessels possibly by 2020, the EU MRV is starting next year, the BWM Convention in September 2017. Many other issues are on hold such as the MBM, underwater noise, Hong Kong Ship Recycling Convention, Bio-fouling and black carbon.

Starting with the BWM Convention, following the accession of the convention by Finland last September and having already met the required 35% of the world’s GT (53.41% / 54 States as of March 2017), the Convention will enter into force on September 8^th, 2017. This practically means that operators are required to have their international BWMC certificate or the Statement of Compliance onboard and having also approved their BWM Plan and Record Book. However, the implementation date concerning the D2 standard is still unsettled. The forthcoming MEPC 71 will consider the following two proposed schemes:

• Compliance with D-2 at the first IOPP renewal survey after September 8, 2017
• Compliance with D-2 at the first IOPP renewal survey completed after September 8, 2019, unless that survey is completed prior to September 8, 2019, in which case compliance  is at the second IOPP renewal survey.

MEPC 71 will then need to approve and circulate for adoption at MEPC 72, in March 2018, the agreed revised implementation scheme. The Revision of the G8 Guidelines was finalized in MPEC 70, therefore now, every new BWT system approved will need to meet the new revised guidelines no later than October 2018. Every new BWT system will need to meet the G8 Guidelines no later than October 2020. Already, we have three systems with USCG Type Approval (Optimarin, Alfa Laval, OceanSaver). Over 13,000 requests have been received by the USCG, granted just under 12,000 requests, and 9 requests have been denied. USCG has recently revised its BWM extension program including the following important changes:

• Extension requests must provide a statement supported by documentary evidence that installation of the type approved system is not possible
• Compliance date before and including December 31, 2018:
  • Identified that a CG type-approved BWMS is available but do not have enough time to install: Extensions should be expected not to exceed 18 months.
  • Identified that a CG type-approved BWMS is not available for a vessel: Extensions should be expected not to exceed 30 months.
• Compliance date between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2020: The Coast Guard will begin considering these requests 18 months prior to the vessel’s compliance date.
• Compliance date of January 1, 2021 or later: The Coast Guard do not anticipate granting extensions.
• Vessels having an AMS installed do not qualify for an extension: The AMS can be used for a period of five years after the vessel’s compliance date.

Regarding the California requirements, the implementation date for the interim ballast water performance standards has been delayed until January 1st 2020 while the final ballast water performance standard until January 1st 2030. We are currently expecting to view the final text of the Biofouling Management since the proposed amendments include requirements for Biofouling Management Plan, Record Book and Annual Vessel Reporting Form.

The EU Ship Recycling Regulation requires a verified Inventory of Hazardous Materials (IHM) with a Statement of Compliance and specifically:

• For the EU flagged new ships: 31 Dec. 2015 to 31 Dec. 2018
• For the EU flagged existing ships: Not later than 31 Dec. 2020 or if
  ship is to be recycled
• For the Non-EU flagged ships: before Dec. 31, 2020

In December 2016, the EU released its list with the approved European ship recycling facilities, therefore, according to article 5 of the Regulation, all ships flying the flag of an EU Member State and going for recycling are required to have on board, as far as practicable, an IHM.

According to regulation 21.6, at the beginning of EEDI Phase 1 in Jan 2015 and mid Phase 2 in July 2022, review of the EEDI reference lines is required. We are currently making the review of Phase 1 where it has been identified issues for ro-ro cargo and ro-ro pax ships that might not be possible to meet the requirements of Phase 2. However, we have seen that containerships and cargo ships are able to meet the requirements of Phase 3, therefore, we expect changes and possibly a Phase 4.

We have projects running for the minimum propulsion power and we are expecting the outcome of these projects along with amendments. We have also amendments in the IMO Data Collection System. According to new regulation 22A, shipowners will need to make amendments in their SEEMP to include a new part, Part B, featuring the methodology for data collection and reporting. They will need to submit the SEEMP for a review by the flag administration and RO and starting from January 2019, they will need to monitor the data according to three methods (BDN, Bunker fuel tank monitoring and flow meters) and then they will need to aggregate the data and submit to the flag state. Then, the flag state will need to verify the data and issue a Statement of Compliance and finally to transfer the data to IMO’s Fuel Consumption Database. The EU MRV Regulation is about to start one year earlier and by August 2017, you will need to have the MRV Monitoring Plan prepared and submit it to the verifier.

In the forthcoming months, we are expecting from the EU to issue guidance documents including the following important issues for development:

Above text is an edited article of Stamatis Fradelos presentation during 2017 GREEN4SEA Conference & Awards

You may view his presentation video by clicking here

The views presented hereabove are only those of the author and not necessarily those of  GREEN4SEA and are for information sharing and discussion  purposes only.