Carriage of vegetable oils under regulation 4.1.3 of MARPOL Annex II

A paper had been submitted to MEPC 56 proposing that the MEPC should agree with an interpretation of regulation 4.1.3 of MARPOL Annex II that Type 2 ships with tanks significantly larger than 3000 m3 should be allowed to load them to capacity with vegetable oils.
When the issue was raised in the plenary session of the MEPC the position was supported by a number of delegations but many others were of the opinion that regulation 4.1.3 provides an exemption from carriage in Type 2 vessels and that it is not possible from a legal point of view to twist an exemption back to the very vessels it is providing exemption from. Concern was expressed that this could prove an unacceptable precedent. A number of delegations expressed the view that if a relaxation on the 3,000 cubic meter limitation were to be allowed for footnote k vegetable oils it would have to be via an amendment to the IBC Code, and could not be limited to such vegetable oils but must include all other Type 2 products with a similar hazard profile.  There were also suggestions that MARPOL itself should be revisited, with Regulation 4.1.3 of Annex II being amended, either to put a time limit on the exemption for Type 3 ships or to specify that it should only be invoked where a shortage of type 2 tonnage has been identified. Clearly this would have had a serious
impact on those who had, in good faith, invested in order meet Regulation 4.1.3 requirements.

By the end of the debate it was clear that a substantial majority did not support the proposed relaxation and the report reads that the majority of those who spoke agreed that allowing the carriage of any product, including vegetable oil, in excess of the 3,000 m3
operational limit in a ship type 2 is in violation of the provisions of the Convention.  Member states were asked to take into account the outcome of the debate.