The Environmental Protection Department has proposed raising charges for ships' polluting waste discharge from March 31.

The amendment to the Merchant Shipping (Prevention & Control of Pollution) (Charges for Discharge of Polluting Waste) Regulation is gazetted today and will be tabled in the Legislative Council on January 18. The charges are set out in Schedule 2 to the regulation.

The department said such charges are payable to the Government for the use of reception facilities provided by the Chemical Waste Treatment Centre for the purpose of collection and disposal of pollution waste, such as liquid oil waste and sludge, from sea-going ships.

The revision is a move towards achieving full variable operating cost recovery and that of departmental administration costs for providing the service.

Charges unchanged since '97

Charges were last revised in the 1997/98 financial year. A costing review at 2004/05 prices shows the charges must be raised.

The adjustment will be phased in over a period of four years to avoid a large one-off increase, it said, adding the Government would still have to bear the full fixed operating cost and the capital cost for providing this service.