Norweigian maritime insurance company Gard on Monday (2 March) published a circular notifying the shipping industry on updated marine pollution management regulations in China:
We refer Members to our Circular No. 4/2015 on the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on the Prevention and Control of Marine Pollution from Ships and the requirement that Owners/Operators of (a) any ship carrying polluting and hazardous cargoes in bulk or (b) any other ship above 10,000 GT enter into a pollution clean-up contract with a Ship Pollution Response Organisation (SPRO) before the ship enters a PRC port or engages in loading, discharge or ship-to-ship transfers outside of the port but within 20 nautical miles offshore.
As previously advised, the Maritime Safety Agency (MSA) recently published new Measures of Administration on Agreement for Ship Pollution Response Regime, which became effective on 1 March 2020.
Further clarifications and feedback on the new Measures have since been received from the International Group’s (IG) advisers in the PRC and the China MSA.
It has been clarified that no SPRO Agreement is now needed for any of the following:
Oil booming is still only required, inter alia, for ships loading, discharging, transferring over 300mt of cargoes listed in the Directory.
A copy of the Directory is also now available (in Chinese) on the China MSA website.
For the avoidance of doubt, it should also be noted that, save for those ships falling within (1) or (2) above, all ships over 10,000 GT regardless of what cargo is being carried are required to enter into a SPRO agreement in accordance with the Article 11 requirements as set out in the amended SPRO table.
If Members are in any doubt, then it is recommended that they contact the Club before contracting with any SPRO.
If you have any questions, please contact Tonje Castberg tonje.castberg@gard.no in Gard, Arendal or Rhiannon Bevan rhiannon.bevan@gard.no in Gard, London.
Related: China publishes new measures for ship pollution response regime
Photo credit: Alejandro Luengo on Unsplash
Published: 3 March, 2020
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