Announcement of the Decree adopting a Bunkering Permit, De-bunkering Prohibition and Permit Requirements for fuels and energy sources

The Director of the Central Nautical Management North Sea Canal Area announces the following:

Designation of fuels and energy sources subject to a permit requirement and/or a de-bunkering prohibition

Bunkering or de-bunkering operations are energy transhipment operations involving safety or environmental risks to the surrounding area or to other port users. A permit requirement for bunkering companies for the bunkering of fuels and energy sources, or an exemption from the prohibition on the de-bunkering of fuels that pose such risks, may involve the stipulation of conditions in the permit to mitigate those safety or environmental risks.

Reconsideration of a bunkering permit for residual fuels

At the moment, residual fuels, distillates and blends thereof, such as fuel oil and marine diesel oil, are not subject to a permit requirement which means that the existing situation continues for the time being. A reconsideration will take place in the course of 2021 as to whether there will be a permit requirement for these fuels, following the example of the Rotterdam-Rijnmond region. In that case, this Decree will be amended.

Minimum permit requirements

For the issuance of a permit and for compliance with the permit conditions the applicant/permit holder is required to have and to operate in accordance with a safety management system. This is a risk mitigation measure. For the most high-risk fuels, an additional condition for the granting of a permit has been stipulated. The additional condition includes that evidence must be available on the basis of a recently carried out audit.

The decision is attached as an appendix to this announcement.

The Director of the Central Nautical Management North Sea Canal Area, who is also the State Harbour Master,

J.H.M. Mateyo