HELCOM proposal passed - passenger ship sewage discharge to be banned in the Baltic Sea

15 August 2011 – The HELCOM Maritime Group proposal to ban all sewage discharge from passenger ships in the Baltic Sea was adopted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) on 15 July 2011. Any such discharge will be prohibited unless the ship uses an approved sewage treatment plant capable of sufficiently reducing nutrients, or delivers untreated sewage to a port reception facility. The elaborate process of reaching the agreement between the Baltic Sea countries, developing the proposal and negotiating it in IMO took less than four years.

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In order to enforce the new regulations, reception facilities for sewage in ports used by passenger ships need to be adequate, and upgraded where needed. The upgrading efforts, agreed by the coastal countries and facilitated by HELCOM Cooperation Platform on Port Reception Facilities, are expected to be completed by 2015 at the latest.

Both new and existing passenger ships operating in the Baltic Sea Special Area will be required to comply with the anti-discharge regulations by 2016 and 2018, respectively.

The more stringent regulations for sewage discharge is another milestone in protecting marine environment against pollution from ships and combating its major environmental problem - eutrophication. Previously, far-reaching prohibitions and restrictions on any discharge into the sea of oil or oily mixtures and garbage have been introduced by the Baltic Sea States, under the IMO’s International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL, Annexes I and V). The new amended passenger ship regulations are covered by Annex IV of MARPOL.

Source: Helsinki Commission

Related content: Guidelines for Water Management; HELCOM report shows a 22% drop in ship accidents in the Baltic; Sweden to host a high-level seminar on the Baltic marine environment protection; HELCOM announces the elimination of four major pollution hot spots in the Baltic Sea area; ASCOBANS MOP-5; GEF IW:LEARN e-bulletin #23, July/August 2010; Near real-time online display of global marine traffic

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HELCOM proposal passed - passenger ship sewage discharge to be banned in the Baltic Sea

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