27 Apr 2016 / Finland
The International Maritime Organization IMO decided on the entry into force of the regulations concerning the special area of the Baltic Sea. By these regulations the discharge of raw sewage from passenger ships and ferries directly into the sea is banned. All the Baltic Sea states are unanimous in support of the decision.
New ships have to comply with the regulations as from 1 June 2019, while for existing cruise ships the time limit is 1 June 2021. Ships coming from outside the Baltic Sea special area and sailing directly to St. Petersburg have a further two-year transition period until 1 June 2023….
….The Baltic Sea was designated as a special area by an IMO decision in 2011, upon application by the HELCOM member states. A condition for the designation to enter into force was adequate reception facilities for sewage at Baltic Sea ports visited by cruise ships.
The new regulations apply to all passenger ships with more than 12 passengers. In practice the regulations apply to foreign cruise ships because the passenger ferries operating in Finland on a regular basis have for a long time discharged their sewage into reception facilities at ports.
The ban on the discharge of sewage will reduce the nutrient loading of the Baltic Sea caused by maritime transport. The options available to the cruse ships are to discharge sewage into port reception facilities or to install on-board sewage treatment equipment by which the amounts of nutrients can be reduced as required by the regulations (70% for nitrogen and 80% for phosphorus) before discharging the wastewater into the sea….
(For information about operations in Finland contact GAC Finland at [email protected])
Source: Extracts from Press Release of the Finnish Ministry of Transport and Communications and Ministry of the Environment
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