Dockside Maintenance and Repairs
Environmental impacts that can result from ship maintenance, especially at the quayside, include wind blowing of spray paint, plates and other ship parts falling into the harbour, other undesirable materials or substances falling into the harbour water, and noise nuisance.
Each port authority shall appoint a designated person, for controlling quayside ship repairs. A ship's master shall obtain a permit from this designated person, prior to commencement of such maintenance. This permit will be generated by the environmental steering committee, in order to ensure uniformity between ports. As a minimum, the permit must detail the following information:
- The nature of the maintenance or repairs to be carried out
- The nature of the berth occupied by the ship
- Waste expected to be generated by the maintenance or repair
- Particular measures to be adopted in the case of hazardous wastes
- Responsible person on the ship
- An undertaking to comply with the port's environmental requirements
In general, only internal maintenance activities shall be allowed at commercial berths. Painting and paint removal operations by grit blasting will only be allowed in the dry dock.
Dry and Wet Docks
The main concern with the dry docks and the floating docks, revolves around the release of pollutants into the harbour. Internationally, such docks may be covered, and dry docks are very carefully swept before being flooded.
Ports will institute appropriate procedures to ensure that undesirable materials or substances from the dry or floating docks do not pollute the harbour water.