BPO discussed sewage from passenger ships and waste from scrubbers

Mar 10 2014

BPO discussed sewage from passenger ships and waste from scrubbers

Baltic Ports Organization (BPO) organized the environmental seminar, 5th of Match in Gdansk. The seminar dealt with reception of sewage from passenger ships and waste from scrubbers. The seminar was associated with training session dedicated to the Self Diagnosis Method – a tool to check the environmental performance of the given port.

Helsinki Commission is working with the new rules regarding the reception of the sewage in ports from passenger ships (ferries and cruises), which should be enforced in next years. According to the proposed regulations each of the ports having the passenger ships should have adequate port reception facilities to receive sewage from these ships. New rules should limit the discharge of sewage from ships directly to the Baltic Sea. This new development is causing many questions and uncertainties among the Baltic ports, e.g. about the technical solutions necessary for receiving large amounts of waste in short delivery time, which is a problem for sewage systems, definition of “adequate port facilities”, rules for “no special fee system” for sewage. Moreover, in order to be prepared for the future obligations ports are planning the investments in quay facilities.

The BPO Environmental Seminar provided the platform of know-how exchange between the ports having already the reception facilities for sewage from passenger ships and those who are planning the investments. The status of this development differ from port to port.

BPO has invited experts and marine suppliers (Wärtsilä Moss AS) to present the ships scrubber technology and what kind of waste the scrubbers produce.  Scrubbers are to be installed in some of the ships operating in the Baltic Sea in order to reduce SOx emission from ships and thus meet requirements in new EU sulphur directive. By seminar the environmental port managers got the background information about technology and what kind of waste can be delivered in ports from scrubbers.

Gun Rudebreg, Legal Counsel and Head of Environmental Affairs, Ports of Stockholm, who chaired the BPO seminar said “This kind of seminars are excellent opportunities for port managers to meet and discuss development and operational issues related to environmental management in ports. Receiving sewage from passenger ships is still a challenge for some ports, for others is not but new regulations are coming. When it comes to waste from scrubbers there are a lots of questions unsolved and the common platform helps to identify workable solutions between ports, shipping lines, technology suppliers and maritime administration.”

BPO Environmental Seminar gathered around 40 participants from ports, ship agencies, marine suppliers, administration, industry organization and was organized during Transport Week 2014 event in Gdańsk.

Presentations from the seminar:
Agnieszka Zaplatka
Ellen Kaasik
Carl-Juri Piht
Daria Mroz
Gert Norgaard
Markku Alahame
Tomas Nilson
Stian Aakre
Antonis Michail