HELCOM Recommendation 28/2

supersedes HELCOM Recommendation 7/7

Adopted 7 March 2007 having regard to Article 20, Paragraph 1 b) of the Helsinki Convention

Recording of fuel oil bunkering operations in the Oil Record Book and documentation for the use of reception facilities

THE COMMISSION,

RECALLING that the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) of IMO at its 21st session adopted a recommendation on recording of fuel oil bunkering operations in the Oil Record Book (MEPC/Circ.146),

RECALLING FURTHER Regulation 6 of Annex IV to the Helsinki Convention concerning mandatory discharge of all wastes to a port reception facility and HELCOM Recommendation 26/1 concerning application of the “no-special-fee” system to ship-generated waste in the Baltic Sea,

RECOGNIZING that the frequency of reports on fuel oil spills associated with bunkering operations shows the desirability to have a verification of the place, time and date, and of the type and quantity of fuel oil received by ships when bunkering,

RECOGNIZING ALSO that in the event of a spill or oil slick being alleged to originate from a particular ship, the relevant authority will examine the Oil Record Book and may use entries in the book as evidence in any legal proceedings,

RECOMMENDS that the Governments of the Contracting Parties to the Helsinki Convention advise owners, masters and officers of ships flying their flag that shipmasters and officers in charge of fuel oil bunkering operations should record the place, time and date, and type and quantity of fuel oil bunkered and the receipt of a bunker delivery note in compliance with regulation 18 paragraph 3 of MARPOL 73/78 Annex VI in Section H of the Oil Record Book,

RECOMMENDS ALSO that the Governments of the Contracting Parties to the Helsinki Convention advise operators of reception facilities, owners, masters and officers of ships flying their flag that shipmasters and officers in charge of operations for the discharge of oily wastes to reception facilities should obtain from the operator of the reception facility a receipt or certificate detailing the quantity of tank washings, dirty ballast, residues or oily mixtures transferred, together with the time and date of the transfer. This receipt or certificate, if attached to the Oil Record Book, may aid the master of the ship in clarifying that his ship was not involved in an alleged pollution incident.