Together with other relevant guidelines, the new guidelines form a comprehensive package of new and updated instruments that will assist industry and administrations to effectively and uniformly implement the forthcoming sulfur limit, the IMO said.
The organisation has already issued ship implementation planning guidance, to help shipowners prepare.
The latest draft guidelines include sections on the impact on fuel and machinery systems resulting from new fuel blends or fuel types; verification issues and control mechanism and actions, including Port State Control and samples of fuel oil used on board; a standard reporting format for fuel oil non-availability (fuel oil non-availability report (FONAR); and possible safety implications relating to fuel oils meeting the 0.5% sulphur limit.
MEPC 74 (May, 2019) is expected to adopt these guidelines, the IMO said in a roundup of the sub-committee’s findings.
In addition, a draft joint MSC-MEPC circular was agreed to address the delivery of compliant fuel oil by suppliers, for approval at MEPC 74 and at the Maritime Safety Committee (MSC 101).
This circular stipulates that members states should urge fuel oil suppliers to take into account, as relevant, MEPC.1/Circ.875 Guidance on best practice for fuel oil purchasers/users for assuring the quality of fuel oil used on board ships; and MEPC.1/Circ.875/Add.1 Guidance on best practice for fuel oil suppliers for assuring the quality of the fuel.
Draft interim guidance for PSCs was developed on contingency measures for addressing non-compliant fuel oil and concrete proposals were invited for MEPC 74.
As for exhaust gas cleaning systems (scrubbers) the Sub-Committee is undertaking a review of the 2015 Guidelines. It agreed to request an extension of the target completion year to 2020 with a view to continuing the work on the review at PPR 7.
In the meantime, the Sub-Committee agreed to forward a new draft Appendix 6 to the EGCS guidelines. This Appendix provides Guidance on temporary indication of ongoing compliance in the case of the failure of a single monitoring instrument, and recommended actions to take if the EGCS fails to meet the requirements of the Guidelines. It aims to address situations in which there is a malfunction of the EGCS system.
Interested member states and international organisations were asked to undertake further scientific research into EGCS and to submit results to future sessions to facilitate the work on the revision of the Guidelines.
The IMO secretariat was asked to explore the possibility of GESAMP carrying out a review of the relevant scientific literature and also overseeing a modelling study of the impacts of discharge washwater from scrubbers.
Another announcement concerned the use of a second compound/active ingredient in biocides in anti-fouling systems on ships, which is set to be prohibited under the IMO Convention for the Control of Harmful Anti-fouling Systems on Ships (AFS Convention).
The Sub-Committee agreed that new controls on the biocide cybutryne, also known under its industry name Irgarol-1051, should be included in the AFS Convention.
Once approved by MEPC 74, the proposed amendments can be adopted by MEPC 75, and would enter into force 18 months after adoption (date to be decided by the MEPC).
The Sub-Committee also agreed the draft revised MEPC circular on the Guidelines for the provisional assessment of liquid substances transported in bulk. The draft will be submitted to MEPC 74 for approval.