1 The International Convention for the Prevention
of Pollution from Ships, 1973, as modified by the Protocol of 1978
relating thereto (hereinafter referred to as MARPOL
73/78) was established in order to prevent the pollution of
the marine environment by discharges into the sea from ships of harmful
substances or effluents containing such substances. In order to achieve
its aim, MARPOL 73/78 contains six Annexes
in which detailed regulations are given with respect to the handling
on board ships and the discharge into the sea or release into the
atmosphere of six main groups of harmful substances, i.e. Annex I (Mineral oils), Annex II (Noxious Liquid Substances carried in bulk), Annex III (Harmful substances carried in
packaged forms), Annex IV (Sewage), Annex V (Garbage) and Annex
VI (Air Pollution).
2
Regulation
13 of Annex II of MARPOL 73/78 (hereinafter referred to as
Annex II) prohibits the discharge into the sea of Noxious Liquid Substances
of Categories X, Y or Z or of ballast water, tank washings or other
residues or mixtures containing such substances, except in compliance
with specified conditions including procedures and arrangements based
upon standards developed by the International Maritime Organization
(IMO) to ensure that the criteria specified for each Category will
be met.
3
Annex II requires
that each ship which is certified for the carriage of Noxious Liquid
Substances in bulk shall be provided with a Procedures and Arrangements
Manual, hereinafter referred to as the Manual.
4 This Manual has been written in accordance with Appendix 4 of Annex II and is concerned
with the marine environmental aspects of the cleaning of cargo tanks
and the discharge of residues and mixtures from these operations.
The Manual is not a safety guide and reference shall be made to other
publications specifically to evaluate safety hazards.
5 The purpose of the Manual is to identify the
arrangements and equipment required to enable compliance with Annex II and to identify for the ship’s
officers all operational procedures with respect to cargo handling,
tank cleaning, slops handling, residue discharging, ballasting and
deballasting, which must be followed in order to comply with the requirements
of Annex II.
6 In addition, this Manual, together with the
ship’s Cargo Record Book and the Certificate issued under Annex II
footnote,
will be used by Administrations for control purposes in order to ensure
full compliance with the requirements of Annex
II by this ship.
7 The master shall ensure that no discharges into
the sea of cargo residues or residue/water mixtures containing Category
X, Y or Z substances shall take place, unless such discharges are
made in full compliance with the operational procedures contained
in this Manual.
8 This Manual has been approved by the Administration
and no alteration or revision shall be made to any part of it without
the prior approval of the Administration.