Gard Club

Ship collision risk increases as China sees more fishery farms

Several marine incidents in China have been reported involving merchant vessels colliding with fishery farms, mostly off the coast of Lanshan and Rizhao areas where mussel and oyster cultivation form the bulk of aquaculture industry. Huatai Insurance Agency handled overall 71 fishery farm entry claims in China through 2017.

In this regard, Siddharth Mahajan, Loss Prevention Executive at Gard P&I Club, in cooperation with Huatai Insurance Agency, Wang Jing & Co. and Worldwide Maritime...

https://safety4sea.com/ship-collision-risk-increases-as-china-sees-more-fishery-farms/

Gard: Complying with food waste discharge regulations

MARPOL allows unprocessed food waste to be discharged into the sea from vessels proceeding at a distance not less than 12 nautical miles from the nearest land. However, according to Gard not all coastal states define their ‘nearest land boundary’ in the same way.

According to Gard, a vessel was detained in Australian for illegally discharging food waste into Australian waters. The alleged incident took place when the vessel was 13 nautical miles (nm) from shore.

In addition, before this incident,...

https://safety4sea.com/gard-complying-with-food-waste-discharge-regulations/

Procedural changes for loss of anchor incidents in Singapore

A recent change in the procedure for handling loss of anchor incidents in Singapore means that the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) now involves itself directly with the local contractors in such cases. This has also led to a change in the procedure for obtaining permission for the vessel to leave Singapore waters following such an incident.

According to data provided by the Gard P&I Club and correspondents Spica Services (S) Pte. Ltd, Singapore, the following information only...

https://safety4sea.com/procedural-changes-for-loss-of-anchor-incidents-in-singapore/

US EPA delays introduction of VGP 3.0 until March 2019

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has further delayed the release of its new Vessel General Permit (VGP 3.0), which was originally scheduled to be issued for comment in late 2017, but is now expected to be made available in March 2019 – with at least a 30-day comment period, according to a regulatory update by ABS.

During the extended delay period, the EPA is administratively continuing the current VGP (VGP 2.0), until VGP 3.0 enters into force. Namely:

  • Vessels which are currently...

https://safety4sea.com/us-epa-delays-introduction-of-vgp-3-0-until-march-2019/

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