Statutory alert: Amendments to Regulation 13 of MARPOL Annex VI – Record requirements for operational compliance with NOx Tier III emission control areas
Applicability: All shipowners and operators
MARPOL Annex VI is amended by IMO Resolution MEPC.271(69) to include a new paragraph, 13.5.3, which has the following explanatory text:
5.3 The tier and on/off status of marine diesel engines installed onboard a ship to which paragraph 5.1 of this regulation applies which are certified to both Tier II and Tier III or which are certified to Tier II only shall be recorded in such log books as prescribed by the Administration at entry into and exit from an emission control area designated under paragraph 6 of this regulation, or when the on/off status changes within such an area, together with the date, time and position of the ship.
This requirement will enter into force on 1 September 2017.
Ships that are required to meet Tier III standard (e.g. ships constructed (keel lay date) on or after 1 January 2016), entering or exiting North American and US Caribbean Sea NOx ECAs, that make any engine status changes (e.g. Tier II to III), the changes are to be recorded in the logbook specified by the onboard procedure. On vessels with a combination of Tier II engines and Tier III engines which operate in a NOx ECA, i.e. which have sufficient Tier III engines to operate without the Tier II engines running, the status of the Tier II engines in the NOx ECA is also to be recorded and confirmed.
Ships visiting North American and US Caribbean Sea NOx ECAs, are encouraged to include this new requirement into their on board procedure as soon as possible.
Please note that the same will apply to the NOx ECA in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea once it is adopted and enters into force in 2021.
