Pollution Prevention & Counter Pollution

 It is the Government’s aim to reduce pollution from shipping and the effects of such pollution on UK waters, coastlines and economic interests. An indication of the effectiveness of our work will be whether there has been a reduction of the incidence and effect of oil pollution from shipping in the UK pollution control zone. Independent information is available from the Advisory Committee on Protection of the Sea (ACOPS) report to which the MCA Counter Pollution Branch contributes, and these reports are monitored under Outcome 3. As a result of the Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation Convention (OPRC) Regulations 1998 ports, harbours and ships now report all incidents of pollution whereas previously they would have not reported spills of less than one tonne.

The trends indicate the UK Coast is exposed to potential pollution threats due to larger vessels carrying more bunker fuel oil and an increase in large cruise vessels both visiting UK ports and transiting UK waters, as well as laden tankers such as Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC). The deployment of Emergency Towing Vessels (ETV), to stop drifting vessels grounding on a lee shore or as passive escorts to laden tankers, has proved very successful as a proactive means of pollution prevention.

Throughout the Plan period we will continue to work with international bodies towards reducing the environmental impact of shipping and to take the appropriate enforcement action. We will continue our work, within various international fora, towards harmonisation of requirements relating to the transport of dangerous goods with other transport modes.

Following the introduction of the 1998 OPRC Regulations which came into force on 15th August 1999 we will continue through the plan period to vet and approve these contingency plans. We will continue to further monitor the effectiveness of the OPRC plans in relation to the response capability and training and exercises executed by ports and harbours, and we will review and update our guidelines on the regulations through consultation with industry, ports and harbours by Autumn 2000.

The Third Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held at Kyoto December 1997 agreed to pursue limitations or reductions of greenhouse gas emissions from shipping. The IMO have since undertaken a study on such emissions from ships. The project commenced in September 1999 and the report is expected in March 2000. We will support technical, operational and market based measures to limit or reduce greenhouse gas emissions from ships, and will work to ensure that any such measures are effective, proportionate and practicable.

Key target 5

Following the Marine Environment High Risk Areas (MEHRA) consultation we will prepare a response plan by Autumn 2000 proposing the most cost effective options for Emergency Towing Vessel provision.

We will report upon the recommendations of the Emergency Towing Vessels (ETV) Review Team in Summer 2000, proposing options for the provision of ETVs over the next 5-10 years, and we will contribute to the DETR review of measures to protect the coastline from pollution from ships following the designation of Marine Environment High Risk Areas (MEHRA’s). We will also continue to review the effectiveness of the National Contingency Plan, in the light of lessons to be learned from recent incidents and the National Exercises recommended by Lord Donaldson’s Review into Salvage Intervention and Command and Control.

Key Target 6:

Evaluate and report to Ministers on the effectiveness of the National Contingency Plan by March 2001. Business Plan Year: 2000-01 In the light of the above we have been set the following Key Targets:

Following the issue of the revised National Contingency Plan (NCP) in February 2000 we will plan and execute two national exercises; Exercise Kernow at Falmouth in October 2000 and Exercise Caergybi at Holyhead in February 2001. Those exercises will be used to evaluate and report upon the effectiveness of the revised NCP and will complete our programme of holding one national exercise in each of our regions. Lessons learnt and recommendations from each exercise will be implemented so as to be part of a continual improvement process in our response to marine incidents.

The revised NCP will be tested in 2000-01 to evaluate the following:

• The role of Secretary of State’s Representative (SOSREP) and the powers of intervention and the establishment and operation of a Salvage Control Unit
• The establishment of the Environment Group for all significant maritime incidents which will cause or threaten pollution
• The new NCP was launched in late February 2000 and will be available on our website
• Counter Pollution Branch will review and rewrite the OPRC Guidelines in liaison with Ports Division.

We have a major commitment to the ports, harbours and offshore industry to implement and approve plans in line with OPRC regulations. It is one of the few initiatives that clearly targets the Ports Industry to raise their standards in Contingency Planning and Counter Pollution response, and we will therefore evaluate the implementation of the OPRC regulations by March 2001.

Key Target 7:

To evaluate the provision of UK port waste reception facilities and report to Ministers on this by December 2000.

The Merchant Shipping (Port Waste Reception Facilities) Regulations 1997 made it mandatory for harbour authorities in the UK to provide suitable waste reception facilities and to prepare port waste management plans for our approval. We will commission independent research to evaluate how effective the legislation and its implementation has been.

We will continue to work within the IMO to develop an international convention to regulate the use of shipboard anti-fouling systems that have adverse effects on the marine environment. We will also participate in the drafting of an international convention to control and manage ships’ ballast water and sediment.

We will work with other government agencies and with non-government organisations with an interest in marine litter to encourage the development of a technique to attribute litter to its source. This would enable the quantity of marine litter that comes from ships to be measured and give us a basis for an indicator, over time, on how effective our policies are in reducing garbage pollution, and to allow easier targeting of publicity.

Ships leaving UK ports or entering UK waters are required to lodge details of all hazardous cargoes with Dover Coastguard. Larger operators are now moving towards the use of electronic systems for internal and external communications which will speed up data transfer, and improve accuracy and currency of data. The ability to interface with such systems will speed up acquisition of relevant information for us to use during an incident to allow better monitoring of the movement of hazardous cargoes. We will therefore work with industry to agree one or more electronic data interchange formats for the reporting of dangerous goods, and arrange for the necessary technology to be put in place within the MCA.

In order that our resources can be maximised for counter pollution operations, we will work to confirm whether Forward Looking Infra Red (FLIR) 4000 which is fitted to all four primary SAR helicopters is able to detect oil on the sea surface.

Following the publication of Lord Donaldson’s report in March 1999 (CM 4432) we incorporated the Secretary of State’s Representative (SOSREP) model into our major incident responses. SOSREP commenced duties in October 1999 and the role was tested during incident exercise ‘Dalriada’ in Clyde and also during the incident involving the DOLE AMERICA. We will continue to develop the role by running further major exercises in strategic UK locations, disseminating information at conferences and seminars and by fully reviewing all processes and achievements during periods of incident activity.

EU Member States including the UK have submitted a paper to the IMO, making the case for the North Sea to be designated a SOx Emissions Control Area with the objective of substantially reducing Sulphur Oxides emissions from ships. This joint initiative is based upon UK research and further support and contributions to the submissions will be given as necessary to expedite IMO agreement.

Forward Look

In 2001 we will prepare for and participate in the IMO diplomatic conference to consider and adopt the convention on regulating anti-fouling systems and initiate any follow up action.

Atmospheric pollution by shipping will be controlled by the new IMO regulations (Annex VI of MARPOL) when they are ratified by sufficient countries, and this is anticipated for 2001. We will implement the international requirements into UK legislation at this time and contribute to discussions on how to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases from merchant ships.

Throughout the period we will continue to work towards safe and pragmatic international regulations on managing ballast water.

There will be international requirements for technical solutions and enforcement to reduce acid rain. Whilst the main thrust of reduction is directed at reducing the sulphur content of fuel, other possible avenues of a technical nature such as exhaust gas cleaning systems need to be explored.

We will implement any changes agreed following the review of the effectiveness of the port waste management planning regime at the same time as the forthcoming EU directive in 2002.