Business Sectors
Business Sectors
Events
Contents
Register to read more articles.
PPR 13 agrees draft bilge disposal rules
PPR 13 backed Marpol Annex I changes for forced-evaporation bilge disposal, plus updated guidelines and Oil Record Book entries for MEPC approval
The IMO Sub-Committee on Pollution Prevention and Response (PPR 13, 9 to 13 February 2026) agreed draft amendments intended to formalise how oily bilge water may be disposed of through forced evaporation, and paired these with updated guidance and revised record-keeping requirements that would apply where an integrated bilge water treatment system (IBTS) is installed.
Earlier MEPC and PPR sessions had invited proposals to amend Annex I, update the draft 2020 IBTS guidelines, and introduce recording requirements that would support consistent, verifiable and environmentally safe implementation.
Against that background, PPR 13 agreed draft amendments to Marpol Annex I, including a new regulation 12B, and consequential changes to the IOPP Certificate format and the Oil Record Book.
The amendments would allow the disposal of oily bilge water through ‘forced evaporation’ on ships of 400 gross tonnage and above that are fitted with an IBTS.
Alongside the Annex I package, PPR 13 also moved work forward on the performance framework for machinery-space bilge equipment with submissions highlighting the need for improvements in the reliability and relevance of 15-ppm bilge alarms and oily water separators, and for updates to testing standards, including test fluids and fuel types.
Work would be progressed by an intersessional correspondence group, which would prepare a draft revision and report to PPR 14.
For shipowners and operators, the long-term direction is towards bringing an already-used disposal practice inside a defined Marpol Annex I structure, with specified applicability based on IBTS installation timing and a tighter link between equipment arrangements and how machinery-space operations are recorded for compliance purposes.
The next procedural step is consideration at MEPC 84 (27 April to 1 May 2026).
Sign up for Riviera’s series of technical and operational webinars and conferences:
- Register to attend by visiting our events page.
- Watch recordings from all of our webinars in the webinar library.
Related to this Story
Events
Maritime Regulations Webinar Week
16 Dec 2025
GMT - ONLINE
Floating energy: successfully unlocking stranded gas using FLNGs and FSRUs
24 Feb 2026GMT - ONLINE
© 2026 Riviera Maritime Media Ltd.
