An Oil Spill harms both the earth’s ecosystem and the economy.
With large numbers of people living and depending on coastal areas for fishing and tourism, the consequences of oil spills are severe and are the ensuing penalties.
The fate, behavior, and environmental effects of spilled Oil vary, depending upon the type and amount of material spilled.
In general, lighter refined petroleum products such as diesel oil and gasoline are more likely to mix in the water column and are more toxic to marine life, but tend to evaporate more quickly and do not persist long in the environment.
Heavier crude or fuel oil, while of less immediate toxicity, can remain on the water surface or stranded on the shoreline for much longer.
Shipboard Oil Pollution Emergency Plan (SOPEP) gives comprehensive advice on actions to be taken in the event of an oil pollution accident.
Oil Pollution Prevention on board is achieved through:
• Use of Oil Filtering Equipment in machinery spaces of all ships
• Use of ODMCS (Oil Discharge Monitoring & Control System) on Tankers
• Incineration of Oily waste and Sludge (and also their shore disposal)
Note :
The correct filling of oil handling records is described in
“Procedures for Oil Record Book entry”
“Procedures for Oil Record Book entry in Machinery Space”
“Procedures for cargo record in Tankers oil record book”
Other precautions to prevent oil pollution include but are not limited to:
• Structural safeguards, such as double hull, bunker tank swash bulkheads on certain ships, etc.
• loading, carriage and discharge of oil cargo as per Manual
• Handling of F.O. and D.O. as per Manual
• Keeping deck scuppers plugged in port at all times
• Regular inspection of oil piping and associated equipment / structures
• Extreme care in handling and disposal of any Oil, like incineration of used cooking oil from galley
• Regular training of crew in oil pollution drills and keeping machinery and other equipment free of any oil leakage
When Oily sludge / oily water from E/R is disposed of to shore reception facilities as necessary, a receipt is to be obtained and filed in the Oil Record Book. Oily sludge may also be incinerated onboard, at sea.
Tank Levelling
To avoid tank pressurization and structural damage, care must be taken when leveling cargo or ballast between tanks.
Before any tank leveling the Chief Officer must ensure the proper setting of p/v valves and the associated venting system.
Notes on Oily Water Separators / Oil Record Books
A case in the United States of America in which criminal charges were made
against a major ship management company has highlighted the need for total
compliance and solid record keeping. The case involved violations regarding the
operation of the Oily Water Separator (OWS) and inaccurate/wrong entries in the Oil
Record Book. The fact that such violations can occur outside USA waters is of no
interest to the USA authorities, and they will take legal action regardless.
As you will be aware, PSC inspectors focus their attention on Oil Record Book
entries and OWS equipment. They can also become suspicious when they see
what they believe may be evidence of tampering with the OWS and associated
equipment. This includes pipelines and flanges that show signs of being opened,
removed, or even freshly painted. Such signs might be innocent. However, it is up to those on board to prove that this is indeed the case.
All
pipework associated with the OWS, the oily bilge system, emergency bilge suction
line, bilge shore discharge connections, overboard connections for the G.S. system
and boiler blow-down overboard connection is to be correctly identified and labeled.
For the sake of good order, please check the following has been carried out onboard your vessel.
Firstly a drawing showing the layout of the above should be available. On this
drawing, all valves and flanges are identified and given a number. This drawing
should be attached to the Oil Record Book (ORB).
All numbered flanges identified in the drawing should have had a small hole (about
5mm) drilled through to accommodate the fitting of a security seal. Each
seal has a unique number, and a form should be available to identify the flange
of the number against the seal number. The date and time of fitting the seal should also be
recorded as well as the date and time of the seal being broken, including the reason
for the same.
No seal should be broken without the joint permission of the Master and
Chief Engineer. This form should also be attached to the ORB. Meanwhile, you are
reminded that any maintenance or repair to the OWS must be recorded in the ORB.
Other initiatives that should have been adopted are as follows:
• The overboard discharge of the OWS should be coated internally with a
suitable light color epoxy coating. The reason for this is that uncoated pipes
can react to corrosion and result in what looks like a black oily residue
adhering to the walls of the pipe. Some inspectors jump to the conclusion
that this is Oil. A light epoxy coating will prevent such corrosion and any
discoloration caused by other sources will be readily apparent if the pipe is
opened up for inspection.
• An interlock should have been fitted to prevent the improper use of
flushing water diluting the oily water mixture running through the measuring
cell. When flushing water is used to clean the measuring cell,
the interlock stops any oily water mixture from being discharged overboard.
• A spare set of OWS filter elements must be available on board at all times.
Excellent and accurate records must be maintained regarding the carriage and
disposal of waste oil. This includes sludge production and transfer, as well as actual
quantities of sludge burned in the incinerator. Regular checks of the figures in the
engine room sounding books and the ORB are to be made to ensure that they tally
correctly.
Duty Engineer Officer and the Chief Engineer should sign off each entry in
the ORB.
Good record keeping and sound procedures will help protect yourselves, the Owners and the Company from
potential problems (and even legal action) that may arise from a Port State Control
inspection.
Probability of discharge
The probability of a discharge resulting from damage to the ship or its equipment is cause for making a report. In judging a probability and whether a report should be made, the following factors, among others, should be taken into account.
The nature of damage, failure or breakdown of ship, machinery or equipment, and sea and wind state and also traffic density in the area at the time and place of the incident.
While it is impracticable to lay down precise definitions of all types of incidents involving probable discharge which would warrant an obligation to report, as a general guideline the Master should make reports in cases of
damage, failure or breakdown which affects the safety of the ship: examples of such incidents are collision, grounding, fire, explosion, structural collapse, flooding, cargo shifting; and
failure or breakdown of machinery or equipment results in the impairment of navigation safety: examples of such incidents are failure or breakdown of steering gear, propulsion plant, electrical generating system, or essential shipborne navigational aids.
Related articles
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Marpol Annex II -Noxious Liquid Substances in Bulk
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Marpol annex III -Pollution by other harmful substances & harmful packaged goods
- Marpol annex IV - Prohibition on Sewage Discharge
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Marpol annex V - Pollution by garbage
-
Marpol annex VI - Pollution by air
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Prohibition on use of harmful (TBT) anti-fouling paints
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Pollution by ballast water
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Prevention of pollution while carrying out overboard maintenance
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Environment friendly purchasing
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Environmental awareness
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Burning of heavy fuel oil & diesel oil - Environmental impacts
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