Cargo Residues

Environmental Impact

Cargo residues are generated from loading and unloading the holds of ships carrying solid bulk cargoes (minerals, grain, salt, sugar, etc.) When a ship changes its cargo type, its holds are cleaned by being swept and rinsed with water in order to avoid any possible contamination between cargoes. It is permitted, under certain circumstances and for non-toxic cargoes, to discharge the resulting hold sweepings and washings into the sea.

The residues discharged into the water represent a miniscule percentage of the ship’s total cargo. Nevertheless, it is believed that over a long period of time, the accumulated deposits of certain types of cargoes risk disrupting sensitive wildlife habitats. This problemis particularly acute in the Great Lakes, where the absence of deepwater currents contributes to the accumulation of such residues.

Action Plan Arising from the Environmental Program

Given that there exists practically no data on the environmental impact and quantitative effect of cargo residue discharges in the St. Lawrence and Great Lakes, the acquisition of such data is a priority of both the collective and corporate actions proposed by the action plan.

Towards that end, the plan’s performance indicators propose that as a first step, participants conduct cargo residue inventories and adopt best practices. This is followed by the level 3 performance indicator, which encourages maximum collaboration between shipowners and terminal operators in reducing the production and discharge of cargo residues during loading and unloading operations. Meanwhile, levels 4 and 5 focus on technological solutions and the adoption of corporate policies targeted towards the elimination of cargo residue discharges altogether.

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