November 28, 2008 No.

35/2008

STATUTORY ALERT Revision to MARPOL Annex IV – maximum discharge of untreated

sewage in accordance with resolution MEPC.157(55)

APPLICABILITY All shipowners, operators and charterers of vessels with sewage holding tanks
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INFORMATION At the 55 session of the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Marine
Environmental Protection Committee (MEPC), a draft amendment to MARPOL
Annex IV, to include sewage from living animals, was approved. IMO also adopted
a ‘recommendation on standards for the rate of discharge of untreated sewage from
ships’ through resolution MEPC.157(55).

Consequently, a revision to Regulation 11.1.1 of Annex IV was adopted at MEPC 56

through IMO resolution MEPC.164(56). This Regulation requires the rate of discharge
to be “approved by the Administration based on standards developed by the
Organization”.

Resolution MEPC.157(55) states that:

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The maximum permissible discharge rate is 1/200,000 (or one 200,000 part) of swept
volume, as follows:

DRmax = 0.00926 V D B

where

DRmax is maximum permissible discharge rate (m3/h)

V is ship’s average speed (knots) over the period
D is Draft (m)
B is Breadth (m)

Approval of discharge rates

The requirements contained within the revised MARPOL Annex IV, which comes into
force on December 1, 2008, do not differentiate between new and existing vessels.
Therefore, all vessels which have holding tanks which discharge into the sea will need
to have their discharge rates approved.

Please contact your nearest Lloyd’s Register office for an excel spreadsheet to assist
you. The completed spreadsheet should be submitted to your local Lloyd's Register
office for approval as soon as possible. If the flag administration has issued your
Annex IV certificate, please submit your spreadsheet to them for approval instead.

HELP US TO HELP YOU – if you are an owner or operator and require further
assistance, please get in touch with your local Lloyd’s Register Group office at the
earliest opportunity and we will be happy to assist.

Further information
Contact: Jonathan Morley
T +44 (0)20 7423 2422
F +44 (0)20 7397 4247
E jonathan.morley@lr.org

www.lr.org

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