MEMBER ALERT Shipowners Claims Bureau, Inc., Manager One Battery Park Plaza 31 st Fl., New York, NY 10004 USA Tel: +1 212 847 4500 Fax: +1 212 847 4599 www.american-club.com American Club Member Alert – February 22 , 2018 1 FEBRUARY 22, 2018 UPCOMING AMENDMENTS TO ANNEX V (GARBAGE) OF THE MARPOL CONVENTION RELEVANT TO THE INTERNATIONAL MARITIME SOLID BULK CARGOES (IMSBC) CODE Reference is made to forthcoming amendments to Annex V (Garbage) of the MARPOL Convention 73/78 to take effect on March 1, 2018. These are relevant to the classification of solid bulk cargoes deemed harmful to the marine environment (HME). HMEs have been defined as follows per Appendix I, Annex V of MARPOL 73/78 in accordance with the criteria in the United Nations Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (UN GHS): • Acute Aquatic Toxicity Category 1; and/or • Chronic Aquatic Toxicity Category 1 or 2; and/or • Carcinogenicity Category 1A or 1B combined with not being rapidly degradable and having high bioaccumulation; and/or • Mutagenicity Category 1A or 1B combined with not being rapidly degradable and having high bioaccumulation; and/or • Reproductive Toxicity Category 1A or 1B combined with not being rapidly degradable and having high bioaccumulation; and/or • Specific Target Organ Toxicity Repeated Exposure Category 1 combined with not being rapidly degradable and having high bioaccumulation; and/or • Solid bulk cargoes containing or consisting of synthetic polymers, rubber, plastics, or plastic feedstock pellets (this includes materials that are shredded, milled, chopped or macerated or similar materials). The criteria are based on the UN GHS. For specific products (e.g. metals and inorganic metal compounds) guidance available in UN GHS, Annexes 9 and 10 is essential for proper interpretation of the criteria and classification, and should be followed. Furthermore, the Garbage Record Book has been modified and split into two sections, parts I and II, as follows: MEMBER ALERT Shipowners Claims Bureau, Inc., Manager One Battery Park Plaza 31 st Fl., New York, NY 10004 USA Tel: +1 212 847 4500 Fax: +1 212 847 4599 www.american-club.com American Club Member Alert – February 22 , 2018 2 Part I A—Plastics F—Operational wastes B—Food wastes G—Animal carcasses C—Domestic wastes ashes H—Fishing gear D—Cooking oil I—E-waste E—Incinerator Part II J—Cargo residues (non-HME) K—Cargo residues (HME) MARPOL Annex V and the International Maritime Solid Bulk Cargoes (IMSBC) Code Concerns have been raised that these amendments have not been harmonized with forthcoming amendments to the IMSBC Code concerning shippers’ declarations of HME cargoes. The IMSBC Code amendments initiatives which require declaring HME cargoes do not take effect until January 1, 2019, ten months after the Annex V to MARPOL 73/78 amendments. Recommendations Your Managers recommend the following initiatives, given the gap between the Annex V to MARPOL 73/78 and the IMSBC Code HME related amendments coming into effect: • Ships’ masters should be made fully aware of the amended requirements to Annex V to MARPOL 73/78 as noted above that become mandatory as of March 1, 2018 and make all necessary arrangements to ensure compliance; • Members should insist that shippers properly declare that any HME-related cargoes that are loaded have been designated and documented as such during this interim period to ensure that problems do not arise with port state control or at discharge ports