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The Association has recently become aware of an unfortunate development at the Port of Lome, Togo in West Africa.

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EGCS – also called the exhaust gas scrubber - is one of the alternative methods of compliance with MARPOL Annex VI regulations. However, it is a timely reminder to the members that many countries and individual ports have banned the discharge of wash water from the use of EGCS in open-loop mode in certain waters. When the prohibiting measure is national, then the restriction applies to inland and territorial waters as well as to the national ports. However, in other instances, the restriction can be implemented at a port level and would apply to anchorages and berths only. The ships may be allowed to switch EGCS to the closed-loop mode or have to use a fuel compliant with relevant requirements. In rare cases, use of a closed-loop scrubber is also banned, and in others, so-called “bleed-off water” discharge from closed-loop scrubbers may be banned explicitly. However, this kind of ship discharges may fall under the definition of contaminated waters and will be prohibited from being dumped overboard along with other illegal discharges.

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A consortium of maritime organisations and companies, has launched the 10 Golden Safety Rules to help shipping improve its safety performance.

The Golden Safety Rules were developed by the Together in Safety Coalition following a review of fatal incident reports across all sectors of the shipping industry. They comprise of 10 areas, for every company and every seafarer to adopt in their everyday work to prevent injuries and fatalities. 

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A vessel at sea where they passed a handy-sized bulk carrier and observed a light within one of the cargo cranes, with two of its six hatches open.  At the time, the observed vessel was proceeding at 7 knots in a busy shipping area.

The vessel’s AIS gave the vessel’s port of destination nearby.  While observing the action of the handy-size bulk carrier, the reporter noted that the vessel had changed course to seek shelter in the lee of a nearby island. It was nighttime, and the weather conditions were Beaufort 3, with a significant swell of 1.0 m and a chance of precipitation.