CLEAN SEAS GUIDE FOR OIL TANKERS

The present Guide was prepared and released in accordance with the relevant technical requirements of the MARPOL Conventions and associated interpretations with the intention to be used together with them. Please note however that this paper is not dealing with the requirements related to the construction/equipment.

Under the Annex I of the Convention any discharge of oil or oil-containing mixture is prohibited from the oil tankers,  including the mixtures coming from the bilges located in the cargo pump rooms, within a distance of fifty nautical miles from the nearest land. In addition, the flow and concentration, as well as the quantity of the substances discharges anywhere else are also limited.

Obviously, the only way to ensure due compliance with these limitations is to adhere to the oil retention procedures. Those procedures would typically involve the collection and separation of any oily waters appearing as a result of tank cleaning/ballasting operations. These mixtures are to be accumulated in a special tanks to be subsequently disposed of somewhere ashore.

This volume is mainly concerned with these procedures and their application; the information contained in this document will be of great importance and practical use to the crew members as well as to all other personnel involved in the above stated operations.