4 August 2023 (Lloyd's List) - CASES of inadequate, overpriced and unavailable port reception facilities, which ports are required to provide to deal with shipboard waste, are getting worse not better, according to a review of data collated by the International Maritime Organization.
The provision of facilities, which mostly receive and collect waste from ships, including cargo residues, garbage, oily water and sewage from the port’s regular vessel traffic, has been a consistent problem reported by the industry over many years.
The IMO has started a regular review of such cases in a bid to improve the situation. But the most recent figures indicate more cases are being reported than ever before.
In 2022, 108 cases of alleged inadequacies of port reception facilities were reported to the IMO — seven more cases than were recorded the year before.
China, Mexico and Australia pulled in the most complaints, with most problems relating to ships being unable to offload sludge and oil tank washings. In most complaints. reception facilities were claimed to be simply unavailable. But 14% of complaints alleged that port operators issued unreasonable charges to use mandatory facilities.
Sufficient availability of reception facilities in ports is a required responsibility of IMO member states signed up to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, known as Marpol — 98% of member states, according to the IMO.
The IMO has repeatedly urged governments to fulfil their treaty obligations to provide adequate reception facilities and has stated that the policy of “zero tolerance of illegal discharges from ships” could only be effectively enforced when there were adequate reception facilities in ports.
