BALTIC SEAENVIRONMENT PROCEEDINGS No. 59 - Helcom

Many of these ships are now 15 to 20 years old ard it is generally
bdievedthatmnyof thmwillbe scrappedduringthenextfewyears,
beauseitwillbeuneconamicto bringthemuptothestmdardsrequired
by the 1992 ame&ments. They will then be replaced by new ships which
will ccmply fully with all MARPOL 73/78 requirements.
This will almost certainly be beneficial to the marine
environment. New ships tend to be safer +& older ones simply because
they are not so prone to break dam. ?he new ships will also be built to
hiqh~Standam% in preventing both operational and accidental pollution:
my VUXs operating tcday are not fitted with seqreqated ballast tanks
or crude oil washing - their replacmenxs will be.
Tt is also hoped that durixq the next few years international
shipping conventions - including ImL 73/78 - will be much more
effectively implemented than in the past. other mmsures developed by
IMO are intended to achieve this, for example, by -ising the
r~nsibilities of m,-ement and also mnitoring the record of
kxdividual Goverrments in putting the convention into effect. Themore
effective implmentation of port State control maasures is also bei_r~~
encouraged.
The provision of adequate reception facilities for wastes is
crucial to the successful implmentation of MAReoL 73/78. They are
required by four of the five annexes (Annex III is the exception) and the
intention is that ships will be able to retain their wastes on board
until theyreachpon.
Although fat ilities are mandatory, in practice they are often
inadequate and in some cases still non-existent. In some countries
facilities have been provided, but the charge for using thm is so
excessive that many ships avoid them.
Many countries whit!! have larqe oil exports have so far failed to
ratify MAREQL 73178. Onereason is that they would be obliged to provide
reception facilities for oily wastes. The costs of doing so could be
very great, since most tank cleaning operations take place during the
ballast stage of the tanker's voyaqe: the reception facilities required
at an oil loadinq pox, therefore, aremuchqreaterthan those need&
elsewhere.
All of this mkes life very difficult for the mers and crew of
theshipconcerned. MARFOLqreatlylimits the discharqeofwastes into
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