Hong Kong Regulations

MERCHANT SHIPPING (PREVENTION OF OIL POLLUTION) REGULATIONS - REGULATION 14

Oil discharge monitoring and control system and oily-water separating and oil filtering equipment

(1) Subject to paragraph (4) of this regulation, every ship of 400 GRT and
above but less than 10000 GRT to which these Regulations apply shall be fitted
with oil filtering equipment complying with paragraph (5). Any ship to which
these Regulations apply which carries ballast water in its bunker fuel tanks
shall comply with paragraph (2) of this regulation

(notwithstanding that the ship is of less than 10000 GRT) or regulation 24(2).

(2) Subject to paragraph (4), every ship of 10000 GRT and above to which these
Regulations apply shall be fitted with oil filtering equipment complying with
paragraph (6), and with arrangement for an alarm and for automatically
stopping any discharge of oily mixtures when the oil content of the effluent
exceeds 15 parts per million.

(3) Subject to paragraph (4) of this regulation-

   (a)  paragraphs (1) and (2) shall not apply to a ship engaged exclusively-

        (i)    on voyages within the special areas; or

        (ii)   on voyages within the waters of Hong Kong, if- (A) the Director
               is satisfied that the ship is fitted with a holding tank having
               a volume adequate for the total retention on board of the oily
               bilge water; (B) all oily bilge water is retained on board for
               subsequent discharge to reception facilities; (C) the Director
               is satisfied that adequate reception facilities are available
               to receive such oily bilge water at the place of discharge; (D)
               the IOPP or HKOPP Certificate issued in respect of the ship is
               endorsed to the effect that the ship is exclusively engaged on
               voyages of a type specified in sub-sub-paragraph (i) or (ii);
               and (E) the quantity, time and port of the discharge are
               recorded in the Oil Record Book; or (L.N. 177 of 1991)

   (b)  ships of less than 400 GRT (other than an oil tanker) shall be
        equipped so far as practicable and reasonable, (in the case of Hong
        Kong ships to the satisfaction of the Director), with installations to
        ensure the storage of oil or oily mixtures on board and their
        discharge to reception facilities, or to ensure the discharge of such
        mixtures is in accordance with regulation 12.

(4) For existing ships delivered before 6 July 1993 the requirements of this
regulation shall not apply until 6 July 1998, so long as these ships operate
with oily-water separating equipment (100 ppm equipment) complying with
paragraph (7).

(5) The oil filtering equipment referred to in paragraph (1) shall be of a
design approved as being in accordance with the specification set out in
Schedule 3 and shall be such as to ensure that any oily mixture discharged
into the sea after passing through the system shall have an oil content which
does not exceed 15 ppm.

(6) The oil filtering equipment referred to in paragraph (2) shall be-

   (a)  of a design approved as being in accordance with the specification set
        out in Schedule 3;

   (b)  adequate to ensure that the oil content of any oily mixture discharged
        into the sea after passing through the system does not exceed 15 ppm;

   (c)  provided with alarm arrangements in accordance with the specification
        set out in Schedule 3 to indicate when the level of 15 ppm is being
        exceeded; and

   (d)  provided with arrangements such as will ensure that any discharge of
        oily mixture is automatically stopped when the oil content of the
        effluent exceeds 15 ppm.

(7) The oily-water separating equipment referred to in paragraph

(4) shall be of a design approved as being in accordance with the
specification set out in Schedule 3 and shall be such as to ensure that any
oily mixture discharged into the sea after passing through the system shall
have an oil content of not more than 100 ppm.

(7A) (Repealed L.N. 641 of 1994)

(8) The oil discharge monitoring and control system referred to in paragraph
(4) shall be of a design approved as being in accordance with the
specification set out in Schedule 3. The system shall be fitted with a
recording device to provide a continuous record of the oil content of the
discharge of effluent or oily mixtures in ppm. This record shall be
identifiable as to time and date and shall be kept for at least 3 years. The
monitoring and control system shall come into operation when there is any
discharge of effluent into the sea and shall be such as to ensure that any
discharge of oily mixture is automatically stopped when the oil content of the
effluent exceeds 100 ppm. On any failure of the monitoring and control system
the discharge shall be stopped and the failure shall be noted in the Oil
Record Book. The defective unit shall be made operable before the ship
commences its next voyage unless it is proceeding to a repair port.

(9) The oil filtering equipment referred to in paragraphs (1) and

(2) may include any combination of a separator, filter or coalescer or may
consist of a single unit designed to produce an effluent with an oil content
not exceeding 15 ppm. If the oil filtering equipment consists of a combination
of oily-water separating equipment, approved as being in accordance with the
specification set out in Schedule 3 for an effluent of less than 100 ppm, and
attached equipment, the attached equipment shall be of a design approved as
being in accordance with the specification set out by the Director. (L.N. 641
of 1994)