Marine Regulations & Guides

The content of the present guide has been compiled by the OPRC-HNS Technical Group. Subject group is one of the subsidiary bodies of the MEPC, i.e. Maritime Environment Protection Committee of the IMO. The document was approved by the subject committee.

Nowadays, there is lot of readily available information and guidance to handling the oil spills and providing adequate and effective response along coastlines and in open waters. However, there is a lack of information about doing same under the conditions of fast waterways, such as inland waters including rivers etc. That is why the decision had been made to prepare an official publication that would cover all associated aspects.

The main objective of the present document is to give some basic information and practical guidance to all shipboard personnel involved in oil spill response for better development of the effective spill response techniques and strategies, clean-up measures, containment of the spill etc. The crew members are expected to possess some very basic knowledge of the oil containment and recovery by application standard equipment. This is a must-have document for any ship involved in passage in the above mentioned areas.

All people working on board ships have a valid right to perform their working duties without suffering any bullying or harassment. However, the sad truth is that many seafarers become victims of these two. The shipping companies are responsible for handling all relevant policies covering the elimination of the bullying and harassment in any form on board their vessels. In addition to that, seafarers themselves should ensure that none of these take place on the ships they work.

They should be committed to produce the materials drawing attention to the issues in this regard and highlighting the potential actions to be taken. Needless to say that both bullying and harassment and acceptable and must not be tolerated on board any ship; that is why two world recognized organizations ICS and IWTF have released this booklet. The intention of the authors of the document was to provide the general guidance on this problem and on the measures that shall be taken in order to eliminate shipboard harassment and bullying.

The authors cover the identification and proper reporting of the incidents that have been noticed, for their further investigation and resolution. The communication and awareness are also considered important and therefore addressed in a separate chapter.

Nowadays, the ship management is considered a worldwide business. Today's vessels are very complex and technically sophisticated structures that are normally equipped with numerous automation devices. According to the statistics, about ninety percent of all commodities all around the world are transported by water.

That is the reason why the great interest exists to the ships and, particularly, to their safe and efficient operation, manning, design and maintenance - all of those shall be done in strict compliance with the internationally recognized standards. The stakeholders are obliged to provide compliance with the applicable marine regulations. This volume was prepared to explore how various math decision making instruments could be applied for the management of the above mentioned regulations.

The content will be of practical interest to the students and specialists involved in the ship management; it will also be interesting and valuable to the ship owners and ship managers. The importance of proper understanding and compliance with the regulations is obvious; therefore the information provided in the pages of this publication will contribute to the overall effectiveness of ship management and ship operation processes.

This official IMO publication is intended to give readers all required practical information relating to the important technical, legal, and also economic implications of MARPOL in terms of it's ratifying, implementation and subsequent coming into force. The publication will provide all interested parties with the good advice on the above mentioned aspects. The book will of particular interest to the Governments of the countries signatory to the MARPOL Convention.

In fact, one of the main declared aims of the authors of this volume was to encourage the ratification of the convention in even more countries and ensure its proper implementation. The main content of the guidebook is arranged in six major parts covering the rights and obligations, preparations, legal aspects to be considered, implementing the regulations of the convention, technical matters relating to the enforcement of the convention, and organization including marine administration and personnel training.

There are numerous appendices giving a lot of supplementary information such as sample documents and regulations, extracts from the relevant regulatory documents, classification flow charts etc. Numerous figures and informative data tables are there to supplement the text and make it easier to understand.

Years ago, the adoption of the ISM Code was one of the critically important developments in the maritime shipping safety. In the past all efforts done in the field of maritime safety and pollution prevention were directed to improving the ship construction, quality of the equipment etc., i.e. mainly hardware. The provisions of the ISM Code deal with the way the shipping companies operate.

This is particularly important taking into consideration the extent to which the human factor affects maritime safety - in fact it accounts for the majority of the accidents. The intent of the Code is to provide help in improving shipping management standards and established practices to reduce the number of the accidents and save human lives. However, it appears that some of the people engaged in the industry are still not familiar with the Code and have little to no understanding of what it means.

The content of this document will clarify many of the aspects of the Code and provide necessary assistance to the shipping companies in implementing the Code. The author of the book concentrates on the important insurance and legal implications. It is aimed at the people involved in practical operation and management of the vessels both on board and ashore.

Nowadays, there are too many incidents in the maritime shipping industry attributed to the poor practices established in the packing of CTU, i.e. cargo transport units. These would normally include incorrect cargo securing, overloading, wrong declaration etc. All of them are of utmost importance taking into account that the victims of the subject incidents may include general public as well as the workers of the transport and supply chain having no control over the process of packing.

The present Code is a publication developed jointly by the IMO, ILO and UNECE, standing for the UN Economic Commission for Europe, in order to address the above stated concerns and produce requirements for the proper packing and handling of the shipping containers for their marine transportation. The first three chapters of the document provide general introduction, definitions used in the text and key requirements.

The chains of information and responsibility is dealt with further together with the general transportation conditions. The following two chapters cover the properties and suitability of the CTU. The rest of chapters focus on the arrival and checking, positioning of cargo transport units, packing cargo, training issues and also give some additional advice on packing, receipt and unpacking of the units.

This is an excellent training resource for those willing to get better understanding of the provisions of the MARPOL convention and it's Annexes. Needless to say that this booklet shall be treated as indispensable reference tool for the operators, owners and crew members of the ships to keep their assets if full compliance with the requirements of MARPOL convention.

The arrangement of the material in the guidebook repeats the one of the convention itself, i.e. six sections of the document coming after the introductory chapter, deal with the prevention of marine pollution by oil, NLS - noxious liquid substances - carried in bulk, packed harmful substances, sewage and garbage generated on board ships, and air pollution. The next section provides a summary of the discharge standards to be complied with. The book concludes with the description of the so-called special areas under MARPOL convention.

As stated above, the publication will greatly assist those trying to get deep knowledge of the convention as it explains all grey areas in a very clear and easily understandable was making it a best option for the people with not too much of practical experience. An absolutely recommended one for both shipboard use and training purposes.

The PSSA, standing for the Particularly Sensitive Sea Area, is an area requiring special environmental protection through the necessary actions by the IMO. The reason for such close attention to these areas is their importance for the ecological and scientific, as well as socio-economic attributes. The International Maritime Organization is the only international entity assigned responsibility for the conducting the assessment of the proposals for the PSSA and designating such areas.

In addition, only IMO may develop and adopt measures to be implemented by the international maritime shipping industry. The content of this volume will provide readers with a good overview of the designated PSSAs. It includes all officially released documents, such as the revised guidelines and proposal review form. The text of the documents included in this volume was developed by the MEPC in order to assist members of the IMO with preparing, identifying and submitting PSSAs.

Another goal was to provide MEPC with the necessary updated information required for the review of the PSSA proposals and making sure that the applicable guidelines have been duly fulfilled. A must-have for the people involved in the marine protection activities.