Ship to Ship Transfer Regulations 2023

N^o 05/2023

Please be advised that as of 30^th November 2023, the new ship to ship regulations 2023 will be in force.

These new regulations will bring into force Chapter 8 (Prevention of Pollution during the transfer of oil cargo between oil tankers at sea) of Annex I of MARPOL and will require the notification of bunkering operations in the Falkland Islands waters.

Notification mechanisms under Regulations 9 and 11. 

• Under both regulations, notifications should be made to the Falkland Islands Maritime Authority (FIMA) Duty Officer via e-mail to:  [email protected]. Notifications submitted will be acknowledged by FIMA.  Cargo transfers and bunkering operations are not to commence until an acknowledgement has been received.
• Due to unforeseeable operational changes, it may from time to time (in extremis) be necessary for notifications to be submitted at shorter notice.  In such circumstances, notifications are to be made via VHF Channel 10.  As for e-mail notifications above, cargo transfers and bunkering operations are not to commence until the radio notification has been acknowledged and permission to proceed with the operation given.
• The data required within notifications is set out within Regulations 9 and 11.  For the notification of bunkering operations under Regulation 11, the priority must be to achieve the 24 hours’ notice requirement.  To that end, estimated timings and fuel quantities are acceptable and FIMA will follow-up closer to the time of the bunkering operation if more data is required.

Steuart Barlow,
Harbour Master,
Falkland Islands Government.

Issued on 30/11/2023