Module 07: MARPOL — OOW Oral Prep

Lesson 1 of 10 · 1 min

The Six Annexes — Know All of Them

Annex	Subject	Key requirement	Status
Annex I	Oil	Prohibits discharge of oil or oily mixtures except in permitted circumstances (15 ppm rule, with OWS and ORB). Tighter conditions in special areas; none at all in the Antarctic	Mandatory
Annex II	Noxious Liquid Substances (NLS)	Regulates discharge of chemicals carried in bulk — tankers primarily. Residues must be discharged to port reception facilities	Mandatory
Annex III	Harmful Substances in Packaged Form	Covers marking, labelling, packaging, documentation, stowage and quantity limits for harmful substances carried in packaged form	Mandatory
Annex IV	Sewage	Prohibits discharge of untreated sewage within specified distances from land. Requires ISPP Certificate for vessels over 400 GT	Mandatory
Annex V	Garbage	Prohibits disposal of all plastics at sea. Regulates disposal of food waste and other garbage by distance from land. Garbage Management Plan and Garbage Record Book required for vessels 100 GT+	Mandatory
Annex VI	Air Pollution	Limits sulphur content of fuel oil — 0.5% globally (2020), 0.1% in ECAs. Controls NOx emissions from diesel engines. Prohibits deliberate emissions of ozone-depleting substances	Mandatory

Say it out loud. Talk “MARPOL structure — the six annexes” through with the live Tutor.

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Lesson 2 of 10 · 1 min

Annex I — Oil Pollution: What the Examiner Focuses On

Requirement	Detail
15 ppm Rule	Machinery space bilge water may only be discharged at sea if: the vessel is proceeding en route, the oil content of the effluent does not exceed 15 ppm (≤15 ppm, undiluted), it has passed through approved oil filtering equipment — the Oily Water Separator (OWS) — and the OWS's 15 ppm bilge alarm is working. Oil Discharge Monitoring Equipment (ODME) is tanker cargo-area kit, not the bilge system
Special Areas — tighter rules	Mediterranean Sea, Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Red Sea, Gulfs Area, Gulf of Aden, Antarctic Area, NW European Waters — machinery-space bilge water only en route, ≤15 ppm, through filtering equipment with a 15 ppm alarm AND automatic stopping device; no discharge from a tanker's cargo area. In the Antarctic Area no oil or oily mixture goes over the side at all
Oil Record Book (ORB)	All operations involving oil must be recorded — bunkering, transfers, bilge discharges, use of OWS. PSC will inspect ORB. Falsification is a criminal offence. Must be retained for 3 years
SOPEP	Shipboard Oil Pollution Emergency Plan — required on all vessels over 400 GT. Sets out procedures for reporting and responding to an oil pollution incident. Must be approved by the flag state

Say it out loud. Talk “Annex I — oil, the 15 ppm rule and the ORB” through with the live Tutor.

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Lesson 3 of 10 · 1 min

Annex V — Garbage: Superyacht Relevance

Garbage type	Outside special areas	Special areas
Plastics (all)	Prohibited — no discharge anywhere at sea	Prohibited
Food waste	12nm+ from nearest land (comminuted/ground: 3nm+)	12nm+ (some special areas: not permitted at all)
Cargo residues	12nm+ if not harmful to marine environment	Prohibited
Cleaning agents / additives	Permitted if not harmful	Prohibited if harmful to marine environment
All other garbage	Prohibited	Prohibited

Garbage Management Plan

Required for vessels 100 GT and over
Procedures for collecting, storing, processing, and disposing of garbage
Designated person responsible for the plan
Written in working language of the crew

Garbage Record Book

Required for vessels 400 GT and over
All discharges to sea or port reception facilities recorded
Accidental loss also recorded
Retained for 2 years — available for PSC inspection

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Lesson 4 of 10 · 1 min

Annex VI — Emission Control Areas (ECAs)

Area	SOx limit	Applicable since
Global (outside ECAs)	0.50% sulphur	January 2020
ECAs (SOx)	0.10% sulphur	January 2015
North Sea / Baltic Sea ECA	0.10%	—
North American ECA (200nm from coast)	0.10%	—
US Caribbean Sea ECA	0.10%	—
Mediterranean Sea ECA (from 2025)	0.10%	May 2025

Say it out loud. Talk “Annex VI — air emissions, ECAs and sulphur limits” through with the live Tutor.

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Lesson 5 of 10 · 1 min

Reporting a Pollution Incident

The report must include:

Name and flag of vessel
Position, course, speed
Time and date of incident
Type of incident

Type and quantity of substance involved
Actions taken or intended
Assistance required
Weather conditions

Say it out loud. Talk “MARPOL structure — the six annexes” through with the live Tutor.

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Lesson 6 of 10 · 1 min

Annex I In Depth — The Oil Record Book Is the Case File

Annex I prosecutions are rarely won on the discharge itself — they are won on the Oil Record Book. Every transfer, every bunkering, every discharge ashore or overboard, every sludge landing is entered with date, position, quantities and signatures, and the entries must reconcile with the physical tank soundings. Surveyors and Port State inspectors read the ORB against the sounding log, the bunker delivery notes and the reception facility receipts — an ORB that doesn't add up reads as falsification, and falsification ("magic pipe" cases) turns a fine into a criminal conviction that ends careers.

Item	The working standard
15 ppm equipment	Oily water separator/filtering equipment approved and maintained; in Special Areas (the Med) — and on ships of 10,000 GT and above everywhere — the 15 ppm alarm and automatic stopping device must be functioning
Discharge conditions	Vessel en route; ≤15 ppm through approved equipment; not in a prohibited area; recorded in the ORB
Sludge	Retained in the sludge tank; landed ashore to reception facilities; receipts kept with the ORB
Bunkering	Pre-transfer checklist: comms and emergency stop agreed, scuppers plugged, drip trays and absorbents ready, tanks gauged, watch posted — Bravo flag/light shown per port rules

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Lesson 7 of 10 · 1 min

Annex IV — Sewage (The Yacht Blind Spot)

Sewage rules bite yachts hard because guest numbers drive tank cycles. The discharge ladder for a vessel to which Annex IV applies:

Condition	Where permitted
Through an approved sewage treatment plant (certified, working)	Effluent may be discharged subject to the plant's certification — no visible floating solids, no discolouration
Comminuted and disinfected sewage	More than 3 nm from the nearest land, en route
Untreated sewage from holding tanks	More than 12 nm from the nearest land, en route at ≥4 knots, discharged at a moderate rate — never in port, never at anchor inshore

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Lesson 8 of 10 · 1 min

Annex VI — Air: The One That Changed Recently

Annex VI limits sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides and other emissions — and it moved recently enough that currency itself is examinable:

Requirement	Standard
Sulphur limit — global	0.50% m/m fuel sulphur content (since 2020)
Sulphur limit — Emission Control Areas	0.10% m/m. ECAs include the Baltic, North Sea, North American and US Caribbean areas — and the Mediterranean became a SOx ECA with the 0.10% limit effective from 1 May 2025. A Med-based yacht lives inside it all season
Evidence	Bunker Delivery Notes retained (3 years) with fuel samples; the BDN sulphur figure is the Port State's first check
NOx	Engine certification by tier and build date (EIAPP certificates); relevant at survey rather than on watch
Incinerators & ODS	Shipboard incineration only in approved incinerators and never of prohibited materials; ozone-depleting substances (old refrigerants) controlled — deliberate release prohibited, records for rechargeable systems

Say it out loud. Talk “Annex VI — air emissions, ECAs and sulphur limits” through with the live Tutor.

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Lesson 9 of 10 · 1 min

Special Areas — Where the Rules Tighten

Special Areas are sea areas where, for oceanographic and traffic reasons, the discharge standards tighten. The ones a yacht OOW actually operates in: the Mediterranean (Annex I oil, Annex V garbage — and now an Annex VI SOx ECA), the Baltic (I, IV, V, VI), the North Sea (V, VI), the Wider Caribbean (V). Operationally the lesson is simple: a Med-based yacht should run to Special Area standards as her default — everything retained, everything landed, everything receipted — because she is never outside one for long.

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Lesson 10 of 10 · 1 min

Pollution Reporting — Who You Call and When

Any actual or probable discharge of oil or harmful substances triggers a reporting duty (MARPOL Protocol I): report without delay to the nearest coastal state — the fastest channel available, usually coast radio/VTS or the MRCC — plus flag state and the company/DPA per the SOPEP contact list, which is exactly what that appendix of the SOPEP is for. Report facts: position, time, type and estimated quantity, cause, actions taken, assistance needed. The pattern repeats from every other emergency topic: prompt honest reporting is consistently the cheapest line in the whole affair, and failure to report is a separate offence that outlives the spill itself.

Say it out loud. Talk “MARPOL structure — the six annexes” through with the live Tutor.

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MARPOL

The Six Annexes — Know All of Them

Annex I — Oil Pollution: What the Examiner Focuses On

Annex V — Garbage: Superyacht Relevance

Annex VI — Emission Control Areas (ECAs)

Reporting a Pollution Incident

Annex I In Depth — The Oil Record Book Is the Case File

Annex IV — Sewage (The Yacht Blind Spot)

Annex VI — Air: The One That Changed Recently

Special Areas — Where the Rules Tighten

Pollution Reporting — Who You Call and When

Check yourself

Oral questions