The meeting devoted to the issue of increasing the availability of sewage reception facilities in the passenger ports of the Baltic Sea was held 4^th March 2011 at the headquarters of the Port of Gdynia Authority S.A.; it was co-organized by HELCOM and the Ministry of Infrastructure.

The issue of the new international regulations on discharge of sewage from the passenger ships and the potential impact of the availability of sewage reception facilities from ships on the attractiveness of ports were discussed at the meeting, among other things.  The current condition and prospects for sewage reception facilities in ports until the year 2015 were also discussed.

The International Maritime Organization, under Annex IV of the MARPOL Convention, has recently passed new regulations according to which the Baltic Sea is to be included in the Special Area in respect of discharge of sewage from the passenger ships.

The above changes will come into force on the condition that adequate sewage reception facilities are available, especially for the cruisers. Many parties, including ship-owners and governments of the Baltic Sea signatory states to HELCOM are very interested in cooperation with the ports in order to discuss the needs and support the activities to increase the availability of such facilities to the expected and possible level.

The Cooperation Platform concerning the issue of sewage reception facilities in ports was established under HELCOM in order to facilitate the dialogue between the national administration, the ports and ship-owners of passenger ships.

(more information at:  http://www.helcom.fi/shipping/waste/en_GB/waste/ ).