Technical Circular No: 018/2025
1. The Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) at its 82nd session approved the “Guidelines on mitigation measures to reduce risks of use and carriage for use of HFO as fuel by ships in Arctic waters”, vide MEPC.1/Circ.915.
2. These Guidelines on risk mitigation measures have been developed on the basis of existing operational and oil spill response experiences and offer recommendatory measures to help reduce risks associated with the use, and carriage for use of HFO as fuel by ships in Arctic waters under regulation 43A of MARPOL Annex I.
3. The Guidelines complements existing International Conventions and covers various aspects, including navigational measures, ship operations, HFO bunkering, communication, spill preparedness, response, training, etc.
4. Ship owners/ operators and masters of ships intending to ply in the Arctic waters are advised to be guided by the recommendations provided in the guidelines to reduce the risk of spills while using or carrying HFO for use as fuel in Arctic waters.
Enclosure:
This Technical Circular and the material contained in it is provided only for the purpose of supplying current information to the reader and not as an advice to be relied upon by any person. While we have taken utmost care to be as factual as possible, readers/ users are advised to verify the exact text and content of the Regulation from the original source/ issuing Authority.