European Community Shipowners’ Associations (ECSA) has supported the European Union’s (EU) proposal for a new directive on port reception facilities for handling waste from ships.
The proposal aims to ensure a sufficient number of port reception facilities, as well as an advance waste notification from ships and a waste delivery receipt for reception facilities.
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It also seeks to facilitate monitoring and enforcement using existing systems for electronic reporting and sharing of information.
The proposal also suggests the creation of a reasonable, transparent and functional fee system to provide an incentive to shipowners to deliver waste ashore.
The proposal is part of the European strategy on plastics, which was adopted in January.
ECSA secretary general Martin Dorsman said: “We believe that the procedures in ports should be as efficient as possible, to keep costs at acceptable levels.
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By GlobalData“Therefore, the 100% indirect system for MARPOL Annex V residues should exclude hazardous waste, as not all ships deliver this type of waste all the time.”
The MARPOL Annex V is part of the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) MARPOL Convention and includes regulations for the prevention of pollution from ship waste.
Dorsman further added: “Short sea vessels that are not sailing on fixed routes according to a published schedule, but may be calling regularly and frequently at the same ports, should be allowed to skip delivering waste every time they call at a port under the same conditions as, for example, ferries.
“This is not the case in the current proposal.
“Short Sea Ships should also be guaranteed differentiated fees, as this will increase the competitive position.”
According to ECSA, differentiated fees should be applied for ships that treat waste in an environmentally sound manner.
The organisation also recommends that special arrangements should be made for small ports, since they may need additional time to issue a waste delivery receipt, especially outside normal working hours.
