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Safe Seas Clean Seas – issue 29, September 2009

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In July, the IMO Marine Environment Protection Committee accepted an amendment that will ban the carriage of heavy grade fuel oils (as cargo or as fuel) into the Antarctic region. The amendment will be made to Annex I of MARPOL – the International Convention for Prevention of Pollution from Ships.

The tallest and heaviest of all penguin species,
Emperor Penguins are endemic to Antarctica.

Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) Environmental Analyst Dr Alison Lane attended the meeting and was heavily involved in developing the amendment. Her work included chairing the group of experts who finalised the draft wording the committee accepted. Alison says the amendment represents 5 years’ work by people from around the shipping world. “This was a truly international initiative,” she says.

Every country is a signatory to Annex I, so every shipping nation is affected. There was some opposition from the cruise industry, who were concerned about increased fuel costs, but ultimately the overwhelming majority of countries supported the amendment.

Alison says the purpose of the amendment is to eliminate the risk of a heavy fuel oil spill in the region. “The amendment bans all heavy fuel oils, including intermediate fuel oil IFO 180, which is a common fuel type. However, it does not prevent anyone from operating ships in the region, it simply means they have to burn a lighter grade of oil, such as diesel,” says Alison.

An Adélie Penguin at Vanderford Glacier,
East Antarctica.

The problem with heavy fuel oils is their persistence. “Nobody has the capacity to adequately respond to a heavy oil spill in the Antarctic, so in the event of a spill the oil would remain in the environment. A lighter oil spill would still have an impact, but lighter oil has a much greater chance of dissolving and evaporating on its own. Rough sea conditions, for example, can help quickly disperse light fuels naturally,” she says.

The benefits of increased protection far outweigh the increased cost of distillate fuels. “This is the most significant environmental protection measure to be implemented for the Antarctic for a very long time,” says Alison.

The amendment is due to be adopted at the IMO Marine Environment Protection Committee meeting in March 2010 and will enter into force soon after that.

Two other agreements made at the meeting were:

• approval of guidelines for ships operating in ice-covered waters, including both the Arctic and the Antarctic. These guidelines are voluntary, and aim to improve the safety of ships in these areas, including their equipment and operational practices
• approval of a new work item to develop a mandatory polar code, which will build on these guidelines. This will further develop enforceable measures to minimise the risk to safety and the environment for ships operating in ice-covered waters.

Moulting Adélie Penguin chicks (around 50–60 days old) in East Antarctica.

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