A Study on the Status of Compliance of the Philippine Domestic Merchant Fleet with the MARPOL 73/78 Convention

PUBLICATION DATE:

Tuesday, July 01, 1997

PUBLICATION TYPE:

Meeting Documents

STATUS:

Out of Print

DESCRIPTION:

The GEF/UNDP/IMO Regional Programme for the Prevention and Management of Marine Pollution in the East Asian Seas conducted a national workshop on the Ratification and Implementation of MARPOL 73/78 Convention in the Philippines on 9-10 June 1997. A National Action Plan was developed by the workshop participants who represented the major stakeholders in the Philippine maritime industry. The National Action Plan specifically identified issues and proposed actions to be undertaken by concerned agencies in the ratification and implementation of the MARPOL 73/78 Convention. One of the action items considered as a priority was establishing baseline data on the status of compliance of the Philippine domestic fleet with MARPOL. The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) was identified as the lead agency for the study. The study revealed that the majority of the domestic merchant fleet have complied with the basic equipment requirements of Annex I. However, with the MARPOL 1992 amendments, which will enter into force on 6 July 1998, the reduced oil content for discharges from machinery spaces to less that 15 ppm will result in a large number of domestic vessels being out of compliance. The study also noted that shore reception facilities were a vital component of the compliance requirements of MARPOL.