Strengthening measures to protect ocean from ship-related pollution

New legislation signed into effect to prevent pollution from ships

SOUTH AFRICA: Yesterday, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed into law the Marine Pollution (Prevention of Pollution from Ships) Amendment Bill which aims to provide stronger measures to better protect the country’s oceans from ship-related pollution.

After being introduced in by the Department of Transport in January 2022, the Bill was discussed at several Transport Portfolio Committee Meetings during 2022 and 2023 before being passed to the National Council of Provinces in March 2023. Public hearings were held in November 2022.

Although the Bill found support from organisations such as the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA) and the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCOBB), there were calls to include noise pollution from ships in the legislation – in order to mitigate the noise from seismic surveys and military sonar.

Calls to increase the level of penalties were adopted and by the time the Bill was discussed in NCOP Public Infrastructure & Minister in the Presidency Committee in November 2023, the fine had been substantially increased from R500,000 to R10 million.

The final deliberations on the Bill were conducted in May 2024. During the voting, Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga, Gauteng, Free State, Northern Cape, Limpopo, and KwaZulu-Natal moved for the adoption of the report. The Chairperson noted that there were no objections or abstentions and that the Select Committee unanimously agreed to recommend the report to the House for adoption.

The law signed by President Ramaphosa is born out of the recognition that ships can pollute our oceans in various ways, from oil spills to harmful chemical sewage and garbage.

The law amends the Marine Pollution Act to incorporate Annex IV and Annex VI of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships.

Annex IV regulates the activities for treatment and safe disposal of sewage from ships. Annex VI is the main global instrument that addresses ship energy-efficiency management and Greenhouse Gas emissions.

The amended legislation broadens the powers of the Minister of Transport to make regulations relating to, among others, the prevention of air pollution from ships and the prevention of pollution by sewage from ships.