Bunkering – Marine Environment Protection Authority

Bunker License (Marine Environmental Protection)

Sri Lanka is located at a strategic location of the Indian Ocean very close to one of the main shipping routes of the world. Accordingly, there is vast potential to develop the port and shipping sector as a major revenue-generating source to the island. Bunkering is one of the main services provided to ships, calling at Sri Lankan ports and sailing through the international shipping routes.

The bunkering services are provided by private service companies. To minimize the risk of an oil spill during the bunker operations, Marine Pollution Prevention Act No 35 of 2008 has given the mandate to the Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) to oversee all sea transport of oil and bunkering operations that are carried out in the territorial waters of Sri Lanka or any other maritime zone, its foreshore, and the coastal zone of Sri Lanka for the purpose of preventing of any possible pollution.

As per the provisions of the above Act, MEPA has promulgated (Marine EnvironmentalProtection) Regulations No.02 of 201, published in the Special Gazette Notification No. 1741/19of Thursday, January 19, 2012.

The Bunker (Marine Environmental Protection) licenses are issued to the bunkering companies.

Objectives

Preventing and minimizing any accidental oil spillage during bunker operations.
Execution of safe bunkering operations without any accident, spillage, or leakage.
Ensuring the bunker vessel’s safety standards and other requirements which are in line with the international bunker standards.
Establishing the awareness of legal, contractual, and regulatory bunkering issues among the bunker vessels, ship owners (owners of Bunker vessels) and bunker suppliers.

Validity Period

One (01) year period from the effective date of the license

Standards and Criteria

The standards that should be maintained by bunker vessels are published in the (Marine Environmental Protection) Regulations No.02 of 2011 published in the Gazette Notification No.1741/19, of January 19, 2012.

Procedure of Issuing Bunker License

In order to carry out any bunker operation in Sri Lankan territorial waters, all bunker vessels, offshore tank farms, and bunker suppliers should apply for a bunker license.

A road tanker clearance certificate should be applied in order to commence any bunker oil operations by using Road tankers.

The application should be submitted before commencing any bunker operation.

Step 1: Application Procedure.

The Certificate of Insurance for Pollution Liability.
The Bunker Facility Procedure Manual.
The Emergency Response Manual.
Copy of Ships Registry and Trading Certificates issued by the
Director General of Merchant Shipping, Sri Lanka.
Copy of the Bunker License issued by the Ministry of Petroleum and Petroleum Resources Development.

Application fee Rs 1000.00

Step 2: Evaluation of the Application

MEPA evaluates the application along with the submitted documents and will inform documentary gaps and lapses, if any, to be fulfilled before carrying out the field inspection. After completing this stage then the application will proceed to step 3.

Step 3: Field Inspection

A team of officers from MEPA will carry out field inspections in order to assess and ensure the details furnished in the application and Ship Onboard Oil pollution Emergency Plan (SOPEP), relevant safety and technical certificates, oil/garbage record books, checklist, and other requirements to be fulfilled to issue bunker license as per the regulations. The inspection team will prepare a report and on submission of the same will proceed to step 4.

Step 4: Inspection Report and Approval

According to the inspection report, if there are any regulatory requirements to be fulfilled, those will be informed to the applicant and after completion, step 3 will proceed again. If the inspection report is recommended, issuing bunker licenses will be approved accordingly and proceed to step 5.

Step 5: Informing the License fee

Once the approval is granted, the applicant will be informed to pay the license fee. The bunker license fee should be paid as per the Schedule V of Bunker (Marine Environment Protection) Regulation No.02 of 2011.

Step 6: Issuance of the License

After the license fee is paid, the license will be issued with the signature of the authorized signatory valid for a period of not more than one (01) year.

Renewal of Bunker License

The permit is valid for one (01) year period and the application should be submitted before the date of expiry for renewal. The renewal application submission and license issuing procedures are the same as above mentioned steps 1-6.

Submission of Monthly Bunker Report

As per Section 16 of Bunker Regulation (Marine Environmental Protection), No.02 of 2011, The owner, operator, master, or agent of each bunker supply vessel, road transporter (Bunker), or any bunker storage facility shall submit a monthly list to the Authority in respect of the bunker services carried out during the preceding month on or before the fifteenth (15) day of each month. Where no bunkering services have been carried out during the preceding month, then anil list should be submitted in respect of such month.

Monitoring

Follow up monitoring of bunker vessel/ ashore facilities /bunker operations;

Checking of Oil Record Book, Garbage Record Book, Logbook, and other relevant documents.
Checking whether the Technical Certificates and Safety Test Certificates are properly validated.
Checking to verify whether the SOPEP locker, and fire and other safety measures are properly updated and maintained.

Initiating Legal Proceedings against bunker vessels/ Ashore bunker facilities / bunker license holders

Legal proceedings are initiated when,

Legal Procedure includes the following course of actions