CUS NEWS REPORT FOR WEEK 52 OF 2024

21^st December 2024 – 27^th December 2024

LOCAL NEWS

No news reported.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

1. Port of Amsterdam to ban use of open-loop scrubber from 1 January 2025

On Thursday, 19 December, the Port of Amsterdam announced a restriction on the use of open-loop scrubbers for seagoing vessels, effective as of 1^st January 2025.

The port authority stated that open-loop scrubbers discharge polluted washing water into port waters, and the ban aims to promote a cleaner marine environment.

“In order to combat water and soil pollution in the Port of Amsterdam, a restriction on the use of open-loop scrubbers will apply from 1 January 2025. The ban applies on ships that are berthed. There, the discharge of the washing water is most locally concentrated,” it said on its website.

In the case of a hybrid scrubber system, seagoing vessels must switch to closed-loop, or switch to another cleaner fuel that meets the sulphur environmental standards, such as Marine Gas Oil.

In 2023, approximately 100 seagoing vessels with an open-loop scrubber called at the Port of Amsterdam. In addition to Amsterdam, the ban already is in place in the ports of Antwerp, Hamburg, French and several Scandinavian ports.

Related Articles:

Manifold Times 23/12 - Port of Amsterdam to ban use of open-loop scrubber from 1 January

Safety4Sea 23/12 - Port of Amsterdam bans use of open-loop scrubbers

Bunkerspot 23/12 - Port of Amsterdam confirms open-loop scrubber ban to take effect 1 January

MarineTraffic 23/12 - Port of Amsterdam Bans Open-Loop Scrubbers To be Effective in 2025

2. Key MLC amendments enter into force

On 23 December 2024, significant amendments have been officially entered into force to the MLC 2006, aimed at further improving working and living conditions at sea and addressing some of the key challenges faced by seafarers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

These amendments, which adopted in 2022, provide for the following:

Recruitment and placement

Seafarers are informed, prior to or in the process of engagement, of their rights under the system of financial protection to be established by private recruitment and placement agencies to compensate seafarers for monetary losses.

Repatriation

Member States facilitate the prompt repatriation of abandoned seafarers and cooperate to ensure that seafarers engaged to replace seafarers who have been abandoned in their territory, or on a ship flying their flag, shall be accorded their rights and entitlements under the MLC, 2006.

Accommodation and recreational facilities/Access to shore-based welfare facilities

Seafarers are provided with appropriate social connectivity on board;
Shipowners, so far as is reasonably practicable, provide seafarers on board their ships with internet access with charges, if any, being reasonable in amount. Port States do the same for seafarers on board ships in their ports and at their associated anchorages.

Food and catering

Good quality drinking water is available free of charge for seafarers;
Meals provided are balanced;
Supplies of food and drinking water are inspected in relation to their quantity, quality, nutritional value, quality and variety.

Medical care on board ship and ashore

Seafarers are promptly disembarked when they are in need of immediate medical care and are given access to medical facilities ashore in cases of, among others, any serious injury or disease, any injury involving broken bones, severe bleeding, broken or inflamed teeth or severe burns; severe pain which cannot be managed on board ship and suicide risk;
Member States facilitate the repatriation by the shipowner of the body or ashes of seafarers who have died on board.

Health and safety protection and accident prevention

Seafarers have appropriately-sized personal protective equipment, in particular to suit the increasing number of women seafarers;
All deaths of seafarers are recorded and reported annually to the ILO and the relevant data is published.

Financial security