Reception of sewage in the Baltic Sea - The port's role in the sustainable management of ship wastes

In 2019, the special area requirements under MARPOL 73/78 Annex IV will come into effect in the Baltic Sea. This puts pressure on ports to develop reception facilities for sewage from passenger ships. This paper is built on a review of published information about the ports' work to update sewage reception facilities and the results of an e-mail questionnaire that was sent to a number of ports in the region, and interviews with environmental managers from two major ports in the region. During the last 15 years, major investments have been made in port reception facilities in many passenger ports. However, there are still diverging views on the question if the port waste reception capacity in the region is sufficient. A few ports have for a long time been dominant as regards the reception of sewage in the Baltic Sea region, but recent increases in the ports' waste reception capacity have predominantly occurred in smaller ports. This has been brought about by a replacement of mobile means for sewage collection with fixed connection systems or an increase of capacity of existing fixed connection systems. Following HELCOM recommendation, the majority of the ports have introduced a no-special-fee system but there are differences in how this is applied.