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Kitack Lim, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), spoke to delegates at the Arctic Frontiers conference on Monday about new regulations for ships operating in polar waters.

On 1st January 2017, the IMO introduced the International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters (Polar Code) and related amendments to make it mandatory under both the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) and the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL). The Polar Code sets out mandatory standards that cover the full range of design, construction, equipment, operational, training and environmental protection matters that apply to ships operating in the waters surrounding the two poles.

Mr Lim told the conference, in Tromso, Norway, that the Polar Code is the single most important initiative to establish appropriate safety and environmental regulation for polar shipping.

With an increased number of ships navigating in polar waters, the Polar Code is designed to address international concern about the protection of the polar environment and the safety of seafarers and passengers with the introduction of new regulations that all ships operating in these harsh and challenging waters must comply with.

The mandatory Polar Code requirements, which were specifically tailored for the polar environments, go above and beyond those of existing IMO conventions such as MARPOL and SOLAS, which are applicable globally and will still apply to shipping in polar waters.

Protection of the Antarctic from heavy grade oils

A MARPOL regulation to protect the Antarctic from pollution by heavy grade oils was adopted by the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) at its 60th session in March 2010. The amendments entered into force on 1st August 2011.

The amendments add a new chapter 9 to MARPOL Annex I with a new regulation 43 which prohibits the carriage in bulk as cargo, or carriage and use as fuel, of: crude oils having a density at 15C higher than 900 kg/m3; oils, other than crude oils, having a density at 15C higher than 900 kg/m3 or a kinematic viscosity at 50C higher than 180 mm2/s; or bitumen, tar and their emulsions. An exception is envisaged for vessels engaged in securing the safety of ships or in a search and rescue operation.

In addition to being banned throughout Antarctica, the use of heavy fuel oil (HFO) in the national park waters around the Norwegian Arctic archipelago of Svalbard is also prohibited.

Under the Polar Code, ships are encouraged not to use or carry HFO in the Arctic.

As Bunker Index reported in December, the United States and Canada have confirmed their commitment to developing a strategy to phase out the use of HFO within the Arctic, and to proposing a related plan to the IMO in 2017.