MARPOL

International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships

Lloyd's Register is authorised to act on behalf of numerous flag administrations to verify that your vessels comply with MARPOL. Our involvement ranges from initial plan approval and on-board surveys to annual and renewal surveys to ensure compliance is maintained. We are also able to issue type approval certification for marine pollution prevention equipment and sewage treatment plants.

Oil pollution has been identified as one of the most serious threats to marine environment since the first half of the 20th century. Within this context, a number of countries introduced, in the early 1920s, national regulations to control discharges of oil in their territorial waters. Following some fruitless attempts for the adoption of a convention to address the problem of marine pollution, the first MARPOL Convention was finally adopted in 1973 by the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organisation, later to be known as the IMO (International Maritime Organisation). MARPOL was the first integrated legislation that was ever adopted, covering all types of pollution, arising from both operational and accidental causes. Still, it was not until 1983 that the convention entered into force, following the addition of the 1978 Protocol. Today, the convention is commonly known as MARPOL 73/78, indicative of an instrument that comprises of both a Convention (1973) and a Protocol (1978). Thereafter, every effort to amend the convention has constituted a new Annex, which was added to the MARPOL structure. The last amendment took place in 1997, with the adoption of the Protocol on the Prevention of Air Pollution from Ships, which entered into force on May 19, 2005. In 2004, amendments to MARPOL Annexes I and II were adopted by the IMO; these shall become effective on January 1, 2007.

What does MARPOL cover?

MARPOL includes regulations aimed at preventing and minimizing, both accidental and operational, pollution from ships and currently includes six technical Annexes:

Annex I Regulations for the Prevention of Pollution by Oil

Annex II Regulations for the Control of Pollution by Noxious Liquid Substances in Bulk

Annex III Prevention of Pollution by Harmful Substances Carried by Sea in Packaged Form

Annex IV Prevention of Pollution by Sewage from Ships

Annex V Prevention of Pollution by Garbage from Ships

Annex VI Prevention of Air Pollution from Ships

How does Lloyds Register help?

Certification 
We are authorised to act on behalf of numerous flag administrations to verify that your vessels comply with MARPOL. Our involvement ranges from initial plan approval and on-board surveys to annual and renewal surveys to ensure compliance is maintained. We are also able to issue type approval certification for marine pollution prevention equipment and sewage treatment plants.

Technical advice
We closely monitor activities at IMO and IACS to enable us to better advise you and keep you up to date with forthcoming changes to the regulations and what they will mean to you. We also offer training courses to help you better understand the requirements.