This document summarizes key aspects of MARPOL, the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships. It outlines the objectives of MARPOL to minimize pollution from ships, including dumping, oil, and exhaust. It describes the six annexes which regulate pollution from oil, noxious liquids, packaged harmful substances, sewage, garbage, and air emissions. It provides details on regulations within each annex regarding discharge standards, requirements for equipment like oil filtering and monitoring systems, record keeping, and certification requirements. Specifics are given for oil tanker requirements and limitations on discharges within special areas. The document is an extensive overview of MARPOL regulations.

1. MARPOL NOTES
Marpol is the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution From Ships, 1973 as modified by
the Protocol of 1978/97. Marpol is one of the most important international marine environmental
conventions. It was designed to minimize pollution of the seas, including dumping, oil and exhaust
pollution.
Objectives
To eliminate the pollution of the sea’s by oil, chemicals and other harmful substances which might be
discharged during the operation
To minimize the amount of oil that which is released due to accidents, collisions , groundings etc.
Special Area:
Means a sea area where for recognised technical reasons in relation to its oceanographical and ecological
condition and to the particular character of its traffic the adoption of special mandatory methods for the
prevention of sea pollution is required.
There are certain special areas on the IMO website which have asterix in the column for “with effect from”.
This is to indicate that the local government has not included the changes into the legislation or does not
have adequate shore reception facilities. Also to keep in mind that even if the effective date is not
applicable but if the flag state recognises the area as a special area then the vessel has to abide, also if the
coastal state has local regulations the vessel will have to comply with those as well.
The 6 annexes of MARPOL
Annex 1: Regulation for prevention of pollution by oil
Annex 2: Regulation for prevention of pollution by noxious liquid substances carried in bulk
Annex 3: Regulations for the prevention of pollution by harmful substances carried in packaged form
Annex 4: Regulation for the prevention of pollution by sewage from ships
Annex 5: Regulation for the prevention of pollution by garbage from ships
Annex 6: Regulation of prevention of air pollution from ships
Annex 1
Special area as per annex 1
Mediterranean Sea
North West European
Waters
Baltic Sea
Oman area of the
Arabian Sea
Black Sea
Southern South
African waters
Red Sea
Antarctic area
Persian Gulf

2. Gulf of Aden
Regulation 14: Oil Filtering Equipment
Vessels above 400 GT and less than 1000 GT shall have an oil filtering equipment
 Approved by the Administration
 Will ensure that any oily mixture discharged into the sea after passing through the equipment has
an oil content not exceeding 15 ppm
Vessels above 1000 GT shall have an oil filtering equipment
 In addition to the above, shall be provided with alarm arrangements to indicate when the level
cannot be maintained.
 Also arrangements to ensure that any discharge of oily mixture is automatically stopped when the
oil content of the effluent exceeds 15 ppm
Discharge from Machinery spaces
In special Areas : (Regulation 15)
 The ship proceeding is en route
 The oily mixture is processed through an oil filtering system
 The oil content of the effluent without dilution does not exceed 15ppm.
 When the vessel is in the special area the oil filtering system apart from having an alarm when the
15ppm cannot be maintained shall also be of a design where the oil filtering system shall stop
automatically when the oil effluent exceeds 15ppm
 Oily mixtures do not originate from the cargo pump room bilges in case of oil tankers
 Oily mixtures in case of oil tankers is not mixed with oil cargo residues
Outside special Area’s: (Regulation 15)
 The ship proceeding is en route
 The oily mixture is processed through an oil filtering system
 The oil content of the effluent without dilution does not exceed 15ppm.
 Oily mixtures do not originate from the cargo pump room bilges in case of oil tankers
 Oily mixtures in case of oil tankers is not mixed with oil cargo residues
Regulation 17 ORB PART 1
 Ballasting or Cleaning of fuel oil tanks
 Discharge of dirty ballast or cleaning water from fuel oil tanks
 Collection , Transfer and disposal of oil residues
 Non automatic starting of discharge overboard, transfer or disposal otherwise of bilge water
accumulated in machinery spaces
 Automatic starting of discharge overboard, transfer or disposal otherwise of bilge water
accumulated in machinery spaces
 Condition of the oil filtering equipment
 Accidental or other exceptional discharges of oil
 Bunkering of fuel or bulk lubricating oil
 Additional operational procedures and general remarks

3. Regulation 29 Slop Tanks
Oil tankers above 150 GT shall be provided with a slop tank arrangement having the following provisions
 Adequate means provided for cleaning of cargo tanks and transfer of dirty ballast residues and tank
washing from cargo tanks to slop tanks
 Slop tank arrangement should be such to allow the transfer or discharge of oily mixture in
compliance with the discharge regulations
 The slop tanks to have a capacity of min 3% of the total cargo carrying capacity of the vessel. Maybe
reduced to 2 or 1.5% if such an amount is sufficient for carrying out tank cleaning operations
without the introduction of additional water into the system
Regulation 31: ODMCS
Tankers above 150 GT shall be fitted with an ODMCS
 Must have a recording device to provide continuous record of the operation showing the ltrs/nm,
total qty of oil disch ,the oil content and the rate of discharge
 Must be identifiable with date and time
 Should come into operation when there is any discharge of effluents to the sea and should be
capable of stopping the operation if the instantaneous rate of discharge exceeds 30 ltrs/nm
 Failure to the system shall stop the operation
 In case of failure, the system may be used on manual mode but the defect to be repaired as soon as
possible. Vessel maybe allowed to undertake one ballast passage with the defective equipment
Regulation 34 Control of Discharge of oil
Outiside special areas
 Vessel should not be in a special area
 Vessel should be en route
 Vessel should be atleast 50 miles from the nearest land
 Any instantaneous discharge should not exceed more than 30 ltrs/nautical mile
 Total oil residue discharge less than 1/15000 of the product carried for tankers built before 31 Dec
1979
 Total oil residue discharged less than 1/30000 of the product carried for tankers built after 31 Dec
1979
 The tanker has in operation an oil discharge monitoring and control system and a slop tank
arrangement
Discharge from cargo spaces while in Special Area(Regulation 34)
 Any discharge into the sea of oil or oily residues from cargo spaces of an oil tanker is prohibited when
in special area

4. REGULATION 36 ORB part2
Part2 is carried by the tankers and is for the cargo/ballast operations
Entries
 Loading of oil cargo
 Internal transfer of oil cargo while on voyage
 Discharging of oil cargo
 Ballasting of the cargo tanks and Ballasting of the dedicated clean ballast tanks
 Cleaning of cargo tanks including crude oil washing
 Discharge of ballast except from the segregated ballast tanks
 Discharge of water from the slop tanks
 Closing of all applicable valves after slop tanks have been discharged
 Closing of valves for isolation of dedicated clean ballast tanks from cargo and stripping lines after slop
tank discharge operations
 Disposal of residues
 Accidental discharge of any oil content and the reasons for the same
 Conditions of the oil discharge monitoring system and the failures of the same to be recorded too
All the entries made need to be signed by the responsible officer along with the date and to be counter
signed by the master. This record book needs to be maintained onboard for 3 years.
Regulation 37:SOPEP
1. Every oil tanker more than 150 gt and ship other than a tanker more than 400 gt shall carry and
shipboard oil pollution emergency plan
2. Procedures to be followed by the master or other persons having the charge of the ship to report
an oil pollution incident
3. List of authorities or persons to be contacted in event of any oil spill/pollution incident
4. Detailed description of the actions to be taken to reduce or control the discharge of oil following
the incident
5. Procedures and point of contact on the ship for co-ordinating the shipboard actions with the
national and local authorities in combating the pollution
6. All oil tankers of 5000 tonnes deadweight or more shall have access to computerised shore based
damage stability and residual structural strength calculation preograms
Pollution prevention methods itemised on the tankers ship shore safety checklist
 vessel should be securely moored
 effective ship shore communication system established
 emergency signals to be used by the ship and shore to be decided and understood
 cargo hoses are properly rigged and not damaged
 SOPEP equipments standby
 Scupper plugs in place
 High level alarms of the tanks to be operational
Checklist will also contain
 Fire fighting equipments to be kept standby
 Effective deck watch to be maintained to check any overflow
 No unauthorised persons onboard

5. 
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

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No unauthorised work to be carried out
No naked lights and flames
Tanks inerted and the inert gas systems checked
All doors to accommodation to be closed and the air conditioning systems to be on internal circulation
Appropriate lights and flags shown
Certificates issued under annex 1
International Oil Pollution Prevention Certificate
Surveys: Initial, Annual, Annual /Intermediate, Intermediate/Annual, Annual & Renewal
Attachments:
 Form A: Listing equipments, arrangement & procedures in machinery spaces
 Form B: Listing equipments, arrangement & procedures in cargo spaces
Annex 2 :Substances indicated in chapter 17 or 18 of the International Bulk Chemical code
Regulation 6: Categories of substances
Category X: NLS which if discharged into the sea from tank cleaning or deballasting operations are deemed
to present a major hazard to either the marine environment or human health and therefore justify the
prohibition of discharge into the marine environment
Category Y: NLS which if discharged into the sea from tank cleaning or deballasting operations are deemed
to present a hazard to the marine environment or to human health or cause harm to the uses of the sea
therefore limitations are applied on the quantity and quality of discharge into the marine environment
Category Z: NLS which if discharged into the sea from tank cleaning or deballasting operations are deemed
to present a minor hazard to the marine environment or human health or marine resources and therefore
less stringent restrictions apply on the quality and quantity of discharge into the marine environment
Other Substances: NLS other than X, Y & Z which at the moment do not pose any threat to the marine
environment or human health on discharge into the sea from tank cleaning or deballasting operations.
Regulation 13: Discharge standards for Annex 2 (NLS) within and outside the Special area (applies to
category X, Y & Z)
The discharge of these substances into sea is permitted with following discharge standards
 The ship is en route and doing a speed of atleast 7 knots in case of a self propelled ship or atleast
4knots in case of a non self propelled ship
 The discharge is made below the water line through the underwater discharge outlets and not
exceeding the rate by which the underwater discharge outlets are designed
 The discharge is made at a distance of not less than 12 nautical miles from the nearest land and in the
depth of water of not less than 25 metres.
Discharge Criteria for category X
 Tank from which category X substance has been unloaded shall be subjected to a pre wash before
the vsl leaves the port of unloading. The residues shall be discharged to port reception facilities
until the concentration falls to 0.1% by weight by analysis. All remaining tank washings to be
transferred until tank is empty. Entries to be made in the cargo record book

6.  Any water subsequently added maybe discharged into the sea
 Where it is not possible to find the concentration of the effluentwithout delaying the ship then
alternate procedures maybe adopted to find the concentration provided that
a) Tank is pre washed in accordance with the procedure adopted by the administration
b) Appropriate entries are made into the cargo record book
Discharge Criteria for category Y & Z
 If the unloading of the substance is not carried out in accordance with the manual, a pre wash to be
carried out prior the vessel leaves the port of unloading. The tank washings to be discharged to
shore reception facilities.
 For high viscosity or solidifying substances in cat Y
a) Pre wash to be carried out
b) The residue to be discharged to shore reception facilities until tank is empty
c) Any subsequent water introduced into the tank maybe discharged at sea
Special areas for annex 2:
 Antartica (No discharge in special area , south of 60 deg )
Regulation 14: P & A manual
 Every ship certified to carry CAT X , Y & Z shall have an approved P&A manual.
 The main purpose being to help identify the the physical arrangements and all the operational
procedures w.r.t
a) cargo handling
b) tank cleaning
c) slops handling
d) cargo tank ballasting and deballasting.
Regulation 17: SMPEP
Every ship above 150 GT certified to carry NLS to have an approved SMPEP
 Procedures to be followed to report a NLS pollution incident
 List of authorities and persons to be contacted
 Detailed description of actions to be taken to reduce or control the discharge of NLS
 Procedures and point of contact on the ship for co-ordinating shipboard action with national and
local authorities
Entries in the cargo record Book
 Loading of cargo
 Internal transfer of cargo
 Unloading of cargo
 Mandatory pre wash in accordance with the ships P & A manual
 Cleaning of cargo tanks except mandatory prewash
 Discharge into the sea of tank washings
 Ballasting of cargo tanks
 Discharge of ballast water from cargo tanks
 Accidental or exceptional discharge
 Control by authorised surveyors
 Additional operational procedures and remarks

7. Certificates issued under annex 2
Certificate of Fitness
Surveys: Initial, Annual, Annual /Intermediate, Intermediate/Annual, Annual & Renewal
Annex3: Applies to substances listed as marine pollutants in the IMDG code
 This annexe gives requirements for the standard of packing,marking,packaging,labelling
documentation,stowage and quantity limitation for prevention of pollution by harmful sbstances
 No dangerous goods to be carried by the ships unless a marine pollutant or a dangerous goods
declaration has been issued to the master
 Any dangerous goods carried onboard should be detailed in a stowage plan
 Packaged goods shall not be accepted unless they are properly marked
 No packaged goods to be carried unless the ship has an cargo securing manual
Annex 4 : SEWAGE
Sewage means
 Drainage and other wastes from any forms of toilets and urinals
 Drainage from medical premises ,wash tubs and scuppers located in these premises
 Drainage from spaces containing living animals
 And other waste waters mixed with drainage as above
Regulation 10: Standard discharge connections
OD: 210 mm
ID: as per pipe OD
Bolt dia: 170mm
Slots in flange: 4 hole 18mm
Flange thickness: 16mm
Bolts and nuts: 4 x 16mm
REGULATION 11: DISCHARGE OF SEWAGE
Discharge of sewage into the sea is prohibited except when,
1. The ship is discharging comminuted and disinfected sewage using a system approved by the
organisation at a distance of 3 nautical miles from the nearest land and that which is not
comminuted or disinfected at a distance of 12 nautical miles from the nearest land
2. Sewage shall not be discharged instantaneously, but at a moderate rate when the ship is enroute
and doing a speed of not less than 4 knots
3. Ship has in operation a sewage treatment plant or an approved sewage comminuting and
disinfecting system with storage tank or a holding tank of adequate capacity certified by the
organisation
4. Test results of the plant are laid down in the INTERNATIONAL SEWAGE POLLUTION PREVENTION
certificate. The validity of this certificate shall not exceed more than 5 years.
5. It should not cause any discolouration of the surrounding waters nor produce visible floating solids
Special area for annex 4

8.  Baltic sea
Certificates issued under annex 4
International Sewage pollution prevention Certificate
Surveys: Initial & Renewal
Annex 5 :GARBAGE
Garbage means all kind of domestic and operational waste other than fish,generated during the normal
operation of the ship.
Annexe 5 special areas( Regulation 5)
Mediterranean Sea
Antarctic area
Baltic Sea
Wider Caribbean
region including
the Gulf of Mexico
and the Caribbean
Sea
Black Sea
Red Sea
"Gulfs" area
North Sea
Antarctic area (south
of latitude 60
degrees south)
The entries to be made in the garbage record book
Entries to be made are as follows
 When garbage discharged at sea
 When Discharged at port
 When incinerated
Accidental discharge

10. REGULATION 9 : Garbage management plans
Every ship more than 12m or more in length shall display placards which notify the crew and passengers
for the disposal requirements of regulations. The placards shall be written in the working language of the
shall also be English, French ,or Spanish.
1. Every ship of 400 grt and above and every ship which is certified to carry 15 persons shall carry a
garbage management plan. This plan shall have written procedures for collecting, storing,
processing and disposing of the garbage including the use of the equipment onboard.
2. Every ship of 400 grt and above and which is certified to carry 15 persons should have a GARBAGE
RECORD book
CATEGORY OF GARBAGE
A Plastics
B Food wastes
C Domestic Wastes
D Cooking Oil
E Incinerator ashes
F Operational wastes
G Cargo residues
H Animal Carcass(es)
I Fishing Gear
Annex 6
 Emission Control area: Means an area where the adoption of special mandatory measures for
emissions from ships is required to prevent, reduce and control air pollution from NOx & SOx &
particulate matter.
 Vessels carrying ozone depleting substances (ODS) shall maintain a ozone record book. Entries to be
made in terms of mass of substance. Entries should be as follows
a) Recharge (full or partial) of equipment containing ODS
b) Repair or maintenance on equipments containing ODS
c) Discharge of ODS deliberate or non delibrtae
d) Discharge of ODS to land based reception facilities
e) Supply of ODS to ships
 NOx: regulation applies to engines > 130 kW and not to engines used solely for the purpose of
emergencies, related to the emissions from the engines. The manufacturer would provide a
technical manual for the engines specifying the settings in order to comply with the regulations.
 NOx emissions are controlled by Tier I, II & III
 ECA for NOx
North American
Area
United States

11. Caribbean Sea ECA
SOx: Relates to the emission due to the sulphur content in the fuel
 Under the revised MARPOL Annex VI, the global sulphur cap is reduced initially to 3.50% effective
from 1 January 2012
 Then progressively to 0.50% effective from 1 January 2020.
 The limits applicable in ECAs for SOx and particulate matter were reduced to 1.00%, beginning on 1
July 2010
 Being further reduced to 0.10 %, effective from 1 January 2015.
 As per EU directives the limits applicable are 0.10% in EU ports
Baltic Sea (SOx)
North Sea (SOx)
North American area
(SOx, and NOx and PM)
United States
Caribbean Sea ECA
(SOx, NOx and PM)
Bunker Delivery notes to be retained for a period of 2 yrs and the sample sent ashore for analysis. Bunkers
to be obtained only from MCA approved suppliers.
Volatile organic compounds (VOC): A tanker carrying crude shall have and implement onboard a VOC
management plan. The plan should provide
 Written procedures for minimising VOC emissions during loading, sea passage and discharging
 Consideration given to additional VOC generated during COW
 Identify person responsible for implementing the plan
 Be written in the working language of foreign going ships
Shipboard Incinerator: incineration of the following items are not allowed
 Residues of cargo subject to annex I, II & III
 Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB)
 Garbage having traces of heavy metals
 Refined petroleum products containing halogen compounds
 Sewage sludge and sludge oil not generated onboard
 Exhaust gas cleaning systems
Certificates issued under annex 6
International Air Pollution Prevention Certificate with supplement with details on the above 5 criterias
Surveys: Initial, Annual, Annual /Intermediate, Intermediate/Annual, Annual & Renewal
International Energy Efficiency certificate
Shipboard Energy Efficiency Management Plan