Mandatory delivery of ship-generated waste

Trafi ensures by means of regulation and supervision that ship-generated waste and cargo residues are delivered to port reception facilities. The Agency monitors the enforcement of the relevant regulations by reviewing notifications of ship-generated waste and inspecting the waste management of ships.

Trafi may on application grant exemptions from the waste delivery requirements to ships engaged in regular service provided they have concluded a waste management agreement with a waste management company or a port.

The national regulations are based on the HELCOM regulation on mandatory delivery of waste, adopted in 1998, on HELCOM recommendations and on Directive 2000/59/EC on port reception facilities for ship-generated waste and cargo residues.

Mandatory delivery of waste

All ships calling at Finnish ports shall before departure deliver their ship-generated waste and cargo residues to port reception facilities which under the MARPOL Convention and the 1992 Helsinki Convention must not be discharged into the Baltic Sea.

The provision on mandatory delivery of waste applies to the following types of waste:

• oil residues from machinery and cargo spaces
• bilge water, unless the ship is fitted with a bilge water separating equipment or if the ship is in service exclusively in an area where bilge water separators must not be used
• cargo residues from chemical tankers of category X or Y for which tank prewash is required
• garbage, with the exception of food waste
• untreated sewage, if the ship is engaged in service exclusively in Finnish waters.

The provision does not apply to:

• bilge water in the bilge water holding tank, if the ship is fitted with a bilge water separator
• cargo residues from chemical tankers of category X or Y for which tank prewash is not required
• untreated sewage if the ship is engaged in service outside Finnish waters
• food waste if the ship is engaged in service outside Finnish waters.

Reduced quantities of waste carried in the slop tanks need not, however, be delivered to reception facilities. In the case of oil residues from the engine room "reduced quantities" may be interpreted as 25 per cent of the total capacity of the slop tanks or 5 m³, whichever is the greater. If the total capacity of the slop tanks is less than 5 m³, the tanks need not be emptied until they are almost full. The ship shall, however, always have sufficient capacity for waste generated during the following voyage.

Notification

Upon arrival to a Finnish port, the master shall give the port operator notification of the waste generated by the ship and of cargo residues. The notification shall be given no later than 24 hours before arrival or, if the duration of the voyage is less than 24 hours, immediately upon departure from the previous port.

If the port of call is known less than 24 hours before arrival, the notification shall be given as soon as the port of call is known. Mandatory notification does not apply to fishing vessels nor to recreational craft entitled to carry no more than 12 passengers.

Fees

In accordance with the Act on the Prevention of Pollution from Ships a fee is charged from every ship that calls at a port, regardless of whether or not the ship delivers any waste in the port (the no-special-fee system).

A fee is charged for untreated sewage only if the ship is engaged in service exclusively in Finnish waters. These fees may be included in the port charges. The port must announce the amount of and the grounds for the fees. The fees may be varied according to, for example, the type or category or size of the ship, but the amount of the fees must not be dependent on how much waste the ship delivers to the reception facilities.

A rebate may be given on the fees if equipment, methods, or a benign fuel is used on board that reduces the amount of waste delivered to port reception facilities to a lower level than usual, or that makes such waste exploitable. The fee shall not, however, be charged from fishing vessels nor from recreational craft entitled to carry no more than 12 passengers. 

Exemptions

Trafi grants exemptions from the mandatory delivery of ship-generated waste and cargo residues and the obligation to provide notification thereof to ships engaged in regular service. Regular service means that the ships operate on a schedule or a pre-confirmed route, between designated ports and that they call at one designated Finnish port located along the route at least once a fortnight.

Exemptions may also be granted to cruise ships or ships engaged in other service, if the ship departs from and arrives at the same Finnish port without calling at other ports.

Such exemptions may be granted on the condition that the ship has concluded a waste management agreement with a qualified waste management company or port. Such ships are also exempted from the no-special fee charged for ship-generated waste and cargo residues.