Wastes News

BIMCO, Bangladesh, India, Norway, Pakistan and the ICS have submitted a paper ahead of the 81st Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) meeting on March 18-22 that highlights the need to resolve possible conflicts between the Hong Kong Convention and the Basel Convention.The Hong Kong Convention will enter into force on June 26, 2025, and the co-signatories of the paper ask for clarification and assurance that shipowners and parties operating in compliance with the Hong…

McAllister Towing has released its inaugural sustainability report.ABS specialists worked with McAllister’s team to provide greenhouse gas inventory and sustainability reporting services, calculating the operational carbon intensity and benchmarking the performance of the McAllister fleet of more than 60 vessels, including tugboats, passenger ferries, offshore supply vessels, crew boats and barges in over 13 locations along the U.S. East Coast.The report covers topics such as McAllister’s fleet profile…

The IMO’s MEPC 80 session adopted the 2023 IMO Strategy on Reduction of GHG Emissions from Ships and advanced other environmental initiatives.The revised IMO GHG Strategy includes an enhanced common ambition to reach net-zero GHG emissions from international shipping close to 2050, a commitment to ensure an uptake of alternative zero and near-zero GHG fuels by 2030, as well as indicative check-points for 2030 and 2040:1. to reduce the total annual GHG emissions from international shipping by at least 20%, striving for 30%, by 2030, compared to 2008; and2.

The NGO Shipbreaking Platform has called for the safe and environmentally friendly recycling of the FSO Safer, currently being salvaged off the coast of Yemen.The UNDP is looking for a destination for the FSO’s recycling, and the Platform is calling on the Dutch government, one of the biggest donors to the Stop Red Sea Oil Pollution operation, to assist UNDP in identifying a suitable recycling facility. The Netherlands has shown leadership in preventing the environmental disaster an oil spill from the FSO Safer would have caused, says the Platform, along with Dutch company Boskalis, via its subsidiary SMIT Salvage, which has been tasked with the removal of the oil from the FSO.Referring to Dutch involvement in the Stop Red Sea Oil Pollution operation…

Brazil sank a decommissioned aircraft carrier in the Atlantic Ocean off its northeast coast, the Brazilian Navy said, despite warnings from environmentalists that the rusting 1960s French-built ship would pollute the sea and the marine food chain.The 32,000-tonne carrier had been floating offshore for three months since Turkey refused it entry to be scrapped there because it was an environmental hazard and the ship was towed back to Brazil.The carrier was scuttled in a "planned and controlled sinking" late on Friday…

Ahead Sanitation Systems, Inc. is fast becoming a leading manufacturer and distributor of marine sanitation systems, products and supplies after more than two decades serving the industry. Those looking can find an Ahead Tank somewhere across all seven seas and most major rivers and lakes in between.Winton I. Rebouche, Jr., known to friends and customers as Boo Boo, is the founder and sole owner of the Broussard, La.-based company. In the late ’80s, Boo Boo worked selling pipe…

Oslo-listed FPSO leasing company BW Offshore said Wednesday a fatal incident had occurred in the Priya Blue shipyard in India, but that it was not related to ongoing recycling of former BW Offshore FPSOs at the yard.BW Offshore said in February it had signed an agreement with Priya Blue Industries yard in India to recycle the Cidade de São Vicente FPSO in compliance with Hong Kong Convention. The convention, adopted in 2009, is aimed at ensuring that ships when being recycled after reaching the end of their operational lives…

The sources and impact of sea-based marine litter form the focus of a new report by the Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection (GESAMP), an advisory body to the United Nations sponsored by 10 UN entities. The report outlines the various sources of marine litter and the impact and assesses the current availability of data and identifies knowledge gaps for the main categories of sea-based sources of marine plastic litter. The Working Group was established by GESAMP…

A new report from a U.S. offshore services trade group details alleged Jones Act violations by a foreign-flagged vessel in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.The Offshore Marine Service Association (OMSA), which recently launched its Jones Act Enforcer program to document and report violations of the U.S. law requiring seaborne cargo shipped between two U.S. points to be carried by American-built, crewed, and owned vessels, said it received a tip from an industry stakeholder that Louisiana-based Triton Offshore had posted photos on social media showing its Chinese-built…

The IMO’s MARPOL Annex IV is being revised to confirm the lifetime performance of Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs). This may finally bring about grey water regulation – a necessity that is long overdue.Black Water and Grey WaterA ship’s sewage (black water) is collected from toilets, urinals and hospitals. The IMO’s MARPOL Annex IV prohibits its discharge, except when treated by an STP or discharged at > 12nm from the nearest land. A ship’s grey water, collected from showers, wash basins…

Preventing pollution from dumping of wastes at sea relies on global frameworks, regional conventions and protocols and national regulations, the UN's shipping agency, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) said. To be effective, these need to be aligned and implemented effectively. This was the subject of a March 2 meeting organized by IMO's Office of the London Protocol and Ocean Affairs (OLCP&OA) and UNEP/MAP.The meeting was attended by Barcelona Convention Contracting Parties…

A long-serving nuclear cargo vessel has made its final voyage and will be decommissioned in Scotland.Earlier this month, Oceanic Pintail set sail from Barrow-in-Furness, in Cumbria, for the final time, and now 98% of the 3,865-tonne vessel will be recycled by Leith firm Dales Marine Services, an EU List approved supplier of vessel decommissioning.Oceanic Pintail, operated by International Nuclear Services (INS), was launched in 1987 and has served the U.K. nuclear industry for the last 33 years.Peter Buchan…

Shipbreaking is among the most dangerous jobs in the world, according to the International Labor Organization. This is the process of breaking up huge old ships into spare parts. It almost always happens in developing countries and comes with an unacceptably high level of fatalities, injuries and work-related diseases.In November 2016, 17 people were killed in a series of explosions on an oil tanker at a shipbreaking yard in Gadani, Pakistan. In 2019 alone, it was reported that 26 shipbreakers died in Bangladesh.

Operator Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (Singapore) on Monday pleaded guilty in federal court to maintaining false and incomplete records relating to the discharge of bilge waste from the tanker vessel Topaz Express, a felony violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships.According to court documents and information presented in court, the defendants illegally dumped bilge waste from the Hong Kong-flagged Topaz Express directly into the ocean, without properly processing it through pollution prevention equipment. The defendants admitted that these illegal discharges were not recorded in the vessel’s oil record book as required by law.

The Recycling of Ships Bill 2019 for safe and environmentally sound recycling of ships in India has become an Act after receiving the assent of President of India.The government of India decided to bring this Act to provide for the regulation of recycling of ships by setting certain international standards and laying down the statutory mechanism for enforcement of such standards.The Government has also decided to accede to the Hong Kong International Convention for Safe and environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, 2009. Accordingly, India has acceded to the Hong Kong International Convention for Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships…

The High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh declared the import, beaching and breaking of the infamous FPSO North Sea Producer illegal.The judgment was issued in a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by NGO Shipbreaking Platform member organization Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA).The Court further noted with dismay the incessant violations of national and international laws by the shipbreaking industry, and passed several directions upon the government to regulate the sector in line with earlier rulings.Already in August 2017, the Bangladesh Court had issued an injunction on the ongoing breaking…

Two shipping companies incorporated in Liberia pled guilty today in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware, to failing to notify the U.S. Coast Guard of a hazardous condition on one if its vessels and to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) by presenting false documents to the Coast Guard that covered up vessel oil pollution.Jeffrey Bossert Clark, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and David C. Weiss, U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware announced the plea agreement.

Carbon capture and storage under the seabed is recognized as one tool in climate change mitigation. An International Maritime Organization (IMO) treaty, the London Protocol, provides the basis in international environmental law to allow CO2 storage.This week, a proposal to agree the early application of an amendment to allow sub-seabed geological formations for sequestration projects to be shared across national boundaries will be put before Parties to the London Protocol (LP) and its forerunner, the London Convention (LC).It would remove a barrier for countries which wish to make use of carbon capture and storage - but which do not have ready access to offshore storage sites within their national boundaries.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) Secretariat is attending the latest in a series of conferences to develop a legally binding international instrument, under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction - known as 'BBNJ'.According to the UN body, the 3rd Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) is being held at UN Headquarters in New York, United States (19-30 August). The current Conference session is the third in a series, with the fourth (final session) set to take place in the first half of 2020.The current conference session is discussing the draft treaty text.

New Bedford, Massachusetts-based Vila Nova do Corvo II, Inc., company managers Carlos Rafael and Stephanie Rafael DeMello, and vessel captain Carlos Pereira agreed to pay a total of $511,000 in civil penalties and to perform vessel improvements.This was to ensure compliance measures to resolve federal Clean Water Act claims stemming from oily bilge discharges from the commercial fishing vessel Vila Nova do Corvo II, a related discharge of fuel oil filters, and violations of pollution control regulations.The United States filed the complaint in this action in April 2019 in the U.S.

Germany is the latest country to accede to International Maritime Organization (IMO)'s treaty for safe and environmentally-sound ship recycling – the Hong Kong Convention.The Convention covers the design, construction, operation and maintenance of ships, and preparation for ship recycling in order to facilitate safe and environmentally sound recycling, without compromising the safety and operational efficiency of ships.Under the treaty, ships to be sent for recycling are required to carry an inventory of hazardous materials, specific to each ship. Ship recycling yards are required to provide a "Ship Recycling Plan", specifying the manner in which each ship will be recycled, depending on its particulars and its inventory.Mr.

The benefits and implications of acceding to the 1996 London Protocol on the prevention of marine pollution by dumping of wastes and other matter in the South Asian Seas Region were discussed at a regional workshop in Dhaka, Bangladesh (10-11 July).According to a note from the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the main objectives of the workshops were to inform relevant authorities of the benefits and implications of ratifying, implementing and enforcing the London Protocol.The purpose of the London Convention is to control all sources of marine pollution and prevent pollution of the sea through the regulation of dumping into the sea of waste materials.

International Maritime Organization (IMO) is working on best practices to prevent and reduce abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear."Abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear can continue to capture and kill marine animals and may cause navigational hazards – as well as contributing to the global marine litter problem," the UN body pointed out.IMO is working closely with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on reducing marine plastic litter from fishing vessels, including fishing gear, as part of the IMO Action Plan on the Reduction of Marine Plastic Litter. This collaboration includes IMO participation at a series of regional FAO-led workshops on best practices to prevent and reduce abandoned…