Company: TEN-PE
Filing Date: 2025-04-11
Form Type: 20-F
Source: 0001193125-25-079101
Chunk: 65

Company: TSAKOS ENERGY NAVIGATION LTD
Filing Date: 2025-04-11
Form: 20-F
Item: Item 4
Chunk 65
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 Code requirements. Crew onboard these vessels are also certified with the additional STCW requirements for this type of vessels.

  Table of Contents      36  

  viii.      MARPOL Annex V  

On January 1, 2013, MARPOL Annex V regulations came into force with regard to the disposal of garbage from ships at sea. These regulations prohibit the disposal of garbage at sea other than certain defined permitted discharges or when outside one of the MARPOL Annex V “special areas” in which, for reasons relating to their oceanographical and ecological condition and/or their sea traffic, the adoption of special mandatory methods for the prevention of sea pollution is required. Under MARPOL, these special areas are provided with a higher level of protection than other areas of the sea. These areas are the: (i) Mediterranean Sea; (ii) Baltic Sea; (iii) Black Sea; (iv) Red Sea; (v) Gulfs area; (vi) North Sea; (vii) Antarctic Sea; and (viii) Wider Caribbean region including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. The regulations do not only impact the disposal of “traditional garbage” but also the disposal of harmful hold washing water and cargo residues. Products considered suitable for discharge are those not defined as harmful by the criteria set out in MARPOL Annex III and which do not contain carcinogenic, mutagenic or reprotoxic components. We have a protocol in place to ensure that (i) garbage is disposed of in accordance with the Annex V regulations and that the vessels in our fleet maintain records showing that any cleaning agent or additive used was not harmful to the marine environment and (ii) the supplier provides a signed and dated statement to this effect, either as part of a Material Safety Data Sheet (“ MSDS”) or as a stand-alone document. Our protocol addresses the Annex V special areas and we do not consider them likely to adversely affect our ability to operate our vessels.

In October 2016, the IMO adopted amendments to Annex V which place responsibility on shippers to determine whether or not their cargo is hazardous to the marine environment (with such categorization to be carried out in accordance with the UN Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals) and introduced a two-part garbage record book which splits cargo residues from garbage other than cargo residues. These amendments entered into force on March 1, 2018. This requirement was extended in December 2022 to vessels of 100 gross tonnage or above and less than 400