Oily Water Separator Systems News

Magic Pipes, 15 PPM alarms, crew familiarization, improper entries in the oil record book, oil record book not maintained: these are all terms used by various Port State Control (PSC) officers worldwide when referencing the oily water separator. When PSC so decides, it also has the option of making one of these an ISM deficiency, adding another black mark against a vessel. Nevertheless, even with such an important piece of equipment and the records documenting its proper use, both are often neglected.

The 170 million GT North P&I club has warned its members of the importance of being "above suspicion" when port authorities allege an oily water discharge due to the risk of multimillion dollar penalties. North’s head of loss prevention Tony Baker said, "Fines under the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) for bypassing a ship’s oily water separator systems continue to increase. According to North, a ship operator was recently fined over $10 million for violations of APPS and obstruction of justice. Another operator and two engineers have just been convicted for conspiracy, failure to maintain an oil record book and falsification of records. Sentencing is scheduled for November 2013.

Shipboard oily water separators are internationally mandated as engine room equipment and are intended to allow engine room crews to clean engine room bilge water prior to discharge into the world’s oceans. This equipment was mandated based on the assumption that uncleaned discharge of engine room bilge water would result in discharge of oil into the environment. Oily water separator equipment has now been installed aboard commercial vessels for over 30 years, but there is reason to question the actual effectiveness of this equipment. It has never been clearly established if oily water separators actually work to a level that enables crews to operate them in a reliable fashion.