Vessel General Permit (VGP)
On 19 December 2013, the revised Vessel General Permit (VGP) was issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the United States of America. The VGP mandates the use of Environmentally Acceptable Lubricants (EALs) in all oil-to-water interfaces (e.g. stern tube seals, thruster seals) on all merchant vessels of 79 feet or longer that are sailing in US coastal and inland waters.
What is VGP testing?
The US EPA requires vessels sailing in US coastal and
inland waters to have a VGP, which will be checked by
the US Coast Guard. Samples have to be taken as per
Table 1 from the effluents:
- Ballast water
- Bilgewater / oily water separator
- Graywater
- Scrubber water
Monitoring data must be submitted to the EPA once
per year, before February 28th of the year after data are
collected.
Frequency of testing
The US EPA requires vessels to test the ballast water discharge
twice per year, unless the sampling results are within permit limits
for two consecutive events. In that case, monitoring may be
reduced to once per year.
What can you do?
Discharge samples for VGP testing may be taken by the crew of
the ship, if the crew is properly trained and the sampling is well
documented. Samples have to be analyzed by an accredited
laboratory.
Time constraints
Biological samples containing living material have to be analyzed
within 8 hours after sampling.
