Technical Circular No: 030/2025
1. The Australian Maritime Authority has issued Marine Notice No. 2025/04 providing guidance on use of Exhaust Gas Cleaning System (EGCS) to meet the requirement of sulphur limit of 0.50 mass per cent concentration of fuel oil.
2. Salient points from the above-mentioned notice are provided below:
a. EGCS installed onboard must be approved by the vessel’s flag State Administration, or a recognised organisation appointed by the flag State and to be operated in accordance with International Maritime Organization (IMO) requirements, including the 2021 Guidelines for Exhaust Gas Cleaning Systems (resolution MEPC.340(77)).
b. All EGCS types (open-loop, closed-loop, hybrid) may discharge water in Australian waters. All discharges must meet the discharge water quality criteria in the IMO Guidelines, and as amended from time to time.
c. Some port authorities may encourage vessels not to release discharge water within port limits. Accordingly, vessel manager/master must contact the specific port Authority prior to discharge.
d. EGCS sludge and residues are to be disposed of at port reception facilities only.
e. When operating an EGCS, the vessel managers/owners/master to ensure:
a) crew members are familiar with correct operation of EGCS.
b) the system is kept in good working order and maintenance is up to date.
c) monitoring devices are fully functional.
d) records are available for inspection, including EGCS approval documents and operational and maintenance records for the EGCS.
e) Records must be kept onboard the vessel and provided on request of a Port State Control Officer (PSCO).
f. In case where EGCS malfunctions, following action has to be taken immediately:
a) Identify and fix the issue as soon as possible. If the malfunction can be rectified within one hour, reporting is not required.
b) If the EGCS malfunction lasts more than one hour or happens repeatedly, then:
• change over to compliant fuel oil
• report the malfunction to the vessel’s flag State Administration and the Competent Authority of the port State of the vessel's destination.
c) If the vessel doesn’t have sufficient compliant fuel oil to reach the port of destination, then:
• include this in the report
• outline the vessel's proposed course of action for agreement by the flag State Administration and Competent Authority for their agreement, which might include bunkering compliant fuel oil at the next port or carrying out repairs
• where this occurs on an Australian vessel or a foreign vessel within Australian waters, the owners/operators/master’s to email the report to reports@amsa.gov.au.
g. Any EGCS that does not comply with IMO Guidelines in any respect (including but not limited to the discharge water quality criteria) may be prohibited from use in Australian waters.
3. Ship owners/ operators and masters of ships calling Australian Ports are advised to be guided by above and ensure compliance.
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.