BIMCO suggests sulphur implementation plan for ships
Overview
It is a daunting task so prepare a fleet of ships for the sulphur regulations. Therefore, BIMCO has, together with the partners behind a new IMO-proposal, made a draft for an implementation plan for achieving compliance with the 0.5% global sulphur cap. The plan has the additional purpose of showing the good faith of the ship operator during inspections.
The proposal and draft plan was submitted to IMO in advance of the Intersessional Meeting on sulphur implementation July 9-13 together together with Norway, Panama, ICS, BIMCO, INTERCARGO, INTERTANKO and WSC.
BIMCO suggest that IMO members states encourage the ships flying their flags to develop written implementation plans, to help member states adopt a practical and pragmatic approach when verifying compliance with the requirements of sulphur regulation.
Priority on willful non-compliance
The implementation plan could voluntarily be submitted to authorities, and ships carrying an implementation plan along with a detailed description of how it is being followed should be met with a practical and pragmatic approach during inspections, according to the IMO-submission.
This pragmatic implementation approach would be for a period of three months after 1 January 2020 for those ships which are in possession of an implementation plan.
“The priority of compliance inspections in ports should be on wilful non-compliance with the regulations. Where ships experience technical or operational issues that may lead to accidental and unintended non-compliance, this should be considered differently than wilful non-compliance, and such ships should not face severe measures or penalties,” the submitting countries and organisations additionally said in the proposal.
The draft implementation plan includes planning and preparation for structural modifications (if needed), how many bunker tanks are designated to store low-sulphur fuel and details of purchasing procedure to source compliant fuels, to name a few.
To see the full proposal, including the draft implementation plan, please see the PDF document below this article.
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Call for practical and pragmatic approach from Member States when verifying compliance with the 0.50% global sulphur cap 0.1 MB
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Posted:
03 July 2018
VPS Bunker Alerts
Veritas Petroleum Services (VPS) publish regular Bunker Alerts based entirely on fuel samples and have kindly permitted BIMCO’s Members to access this information.
The Bunker Alerts are not intended to be an evaluation of overall bunker quality in the port or area concerned, but usually highlight a specific parameter within the fuel which has raised a quality issue.
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