Sewage regulations - Ukraine

Ukraine, as a contracting state to MARPOL 73/78 Annex IV, has in place national sewage regulations prescribing the following discharge conditions for sewage in Ukrainian waters:

•Within 4 nautical miles from land no discharge is allowed except from an approved treatment plant certified by the flag state authority or authorized classification society.
•Between 4 and 12 nautical miles no discharge is allowed except from an approved treatment plant or approved system for comminuting and disinfecting sewage certified by the flag state authority or authorized classification society.

The Azov Sea is considered to be an internal sea of the Ukraine, meaning that the 12 nautical miles zone should be measured from the Ukrainian Black Sea coast.

A valid International Sewage Pollution Prevention Certificate is compulsory under MARPOL Annex IV, but in many cases is reported not to be sufficient to fulfil the SIPABS inspectors’ requirements for the discharge sewage in the above mentioned zones. This is a clear contradiction of MARPOL Article 5 §1 related to acceptance of certificates issued by other parties to the Convention.

All ships calling at Ukrainian ports are subject to sewage water inspection by the State Inspection for Protection of the Azov and Black Sea (SIPABS). And the inspector should rule whether the treated effluent sewage water meets the permissible pollutant concentration, based on discharging sewage tests.

The power of the SIPABS inspectors is sadly a challenge for many ships equipped with Flag State approved and certified sewage treatment plants. Ships with a certified sewage treatment plant are normally discharging sewage within any 12 nautical miles zone, including alongside and at the anchorage, without any problems.

In most cases the SIPABS inspectors are boarding ships upon berthing and on the spot raising allegations that the sewage treatment plant produced effluent sewage water exceeds the permissible pollutant concentration.

In many cases, the ruling by SIPABS inspectors do not correlate with any actual discharging sewage tests nor test carried out in accordance the IMO Resolution MEPC.159 - Guidelines on Implementation of Effluent Standards and Performance Tests for Sewage Treatment Plants related to “Sampling methods and frequency”.

The SIPABS inspectors have been reported to issue administrative fines for an approximate amount of USD 150, which is followed by a pollution claim calculated on the basis of USD 140 per cubic meter of sewage water discharged from the ship (using 200 litres of sewage is a standard daily rate per one crewmember). The fine and claim have to be paid before the ship's departure; otherwise, the ship is detained until at least the provision of bank guarantee serves as a financial security of the claim.

In order to minimize exposure to heavy and randomly given sewage pollution fines, extra caution should be exercised prior to arrival, and the following actions should be considered by all ships calling at Ukrainian ports or waters:

•Sewage overboard discharge valves should be securely locked and sealed in closed position when entering any 12 nautical miles zone in the Black Sea.
•Operation of the sewage system, including securely locking of valves, should be duly documented in the appropriate record books.
•Use holding tank(s) which can store the generated sewage output. (The Ukrainian sewage regulations have an estimated daily rate of 200 litres per crewmember on board)

The discharges of sewage to a port reception facility is a mandatory pre-departure requirement in the sewage regulations, so the holding tank(s) used should comply with MARPOL Annex IV Regulation 3, i.e. having a connection/pipeline for discharge of sewage to a reception facility.

In case of any incident or SIPABS notification of alleged violation of local sewage regulations:
•Inform the P&I Club immediately.
•Do not to accept any liability nor sign any papers other than with “for receipt only and without any prejudice” .
•The alleged sewage pollution claim should be protested by a letter of protest.
•Request in writing a joint sampling/test to be carried out.

Sources: BIMCO