Environmental protection and pollution prevention
This domain tests MARPOL annex by annex, plus the ballast water and anti-fouling regimes: what may be discharged, where, from which ship, and with what record. The exam favours numbers - distances from land, limits in parts per million, special areas and dates.
MARPOL at a glance
- Annex I oil: 15 ppm from the oily-water separator; special areas are stricter, and the Oil Record Book is required for every tanker and for non-tankers of 400 GT and over.
- Annex II noxious liquid, Annex III harmful packaged goods (IMDG), Annex IV sewage, Annex V garbage, Annex VI air pollution.
- Annex IV: treated sewage may be discharged at any distance; untreated sewage beyond 12 nautical miles and at a moderate speed of at least 4 knots.
- Annex VI: 0.50% sulphur globally since 2020, 0.10% in ECAs - Baltic, North Sea, North America, US Caribbean, and the Mediterranean from 1 May 2025. A scrubber is permitted as an equivalent, subject to washwater rules.
Garbage and other regimes
- Annex V: plastics never, anywhere. Food waste comminuted to 25 mm may go beyond 3 nautical miles; otherwise beyond 12. A Garbage Record Book for ships of 400 GT and over or certified for 15 persons or more; placards on ships of 12 m and over.
- Ballast Water Management Convention in force since 2017; D-2 treatment for most ships by September 2024, with a Ballast Water Record Book.
- AFS Convention restricts organotin; SOPEP and IOPP are the oil response and certificate pair.
Worked example
A 6,000 GT cargo ship 5 nautical miles off the coast holds a bag of kitchen scraps including a plastic wrapper. The wrapper can never be discharged - Annex V prohibits all plastics, and that is unaffected by distance. The food waste alone could only go overboard beyond 3 nautical miles if comminuted to 25 mm; whole, it needs 12 nautical miles. Both go into the segregated garbage bin, are recorded in the Garbage Record Book, and are landed at the next port with a receipt.
Traps that cost marks
- Quoting 12 nautical miles for comminuted food waste (that is the figure for non-comminuted).
- Treating the Mediterranean as a sulphur ECA before or after its 2025 start date incorrectly.
- Believing the Oil Record Book applies only to tankers - non-tankers of 400 GT and over need one too.
- Forgetting that Annex V entries and receipts must match, since PSC checks them against each other.