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Ballast Water Convention in Force

Implementation will be problematic


 

The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) adopted the Ballast Water Convention in February 2004. The “International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments” lays down the procedure for exchanging ballast water and stipulates criteria that ballast water has to meet prior to exchange in future. In addition, the ballast water has to be treated in a targeted manner.

Special systems that must be approved by the IMO will be used for ballast water treatment on board. Systems made by 21 manufacturers have now been certified for installation.

However, the Ballast Water Convention has not come into force yet, even though 33 countries have ratified it so far, because they only make up 26.46 % of the world tonnage. Only when 35 % of the gross tonnage of the world’s merchant shipping fleet is reached will the regulations become binding. Different Organizations like BIMCO, Intertanko, Intercargo, ICS and also flag states, shipping companies etc. voice a criticism concerning the planned IMO convention. Therefore a ratification in 2013 is doubtful. Nevertheless it is sure that this convention – maybe with adaptions – will come into force in the near future.

Currently installation of ballast water treatment facilities is merely a recommendation – and accordingly only 250 such systems have been installed worldwide, as things stand now. These systems have to be already installed on newbuildings having a keel laying date after 2009 and a size of up to 5,000 cubic metres. As of 2012, this now also applies to newly built vessels over 5,000 cubic metres.

Around 31,000 vessels around the globe will be affected by the requirement for retrofitting ballast water treatment systems between 2012 and 2018 – that is equivalent to 390 retrofits a month. The installation of ballast water treatment systems needs to be well planned. At first the necessary capacity of the treatment system has to be calculated. Further it needs to be settled how the system shall work (e.g. UV-sterilization, sterilization by radicals etc.).
As a result the size of the plant and the perfect position in the engine room can be determined. At the moment it is still entirely unclear how this can be accomplished within the time frame specified by the IMO – also due to the lack of qualified engineers. The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) therefore expresses substantial doubts and demands changes in the regulations.

The ICS proposes that older vessels be exempt from the retrofitting requirement until the next upcoming class renewal. Some ships should even be completely exempted since it does not make sense to retrofit vessels at the end of their service life with a ballast water treatment system costing up to USD 5 million. Shipping companies therefore suggest an age limit of 18 years for retrofitting. The impacts of an exemption for these older ships on the environment are negligible according to the ICS.

For shipping companies implementation of the Ballast Water Convention means an additional financial burden in times that are already difficult anyway. Merchant shipping is now in the fourth year of the crisis. Furthermore, major questions regarding ballast water treatment have not been clarified yet: Is it, for example, also necessary when a vessel only operates within the Baltic Sea or exclusively between the Elbe, Kiel Canal and Baltic Sea in short-distance traffic near the coast? Other matters that are still open include practice-oriented regulations for sampling, inspections in connection with port state control as well as key liability questions relating to malfunctions of the ballast water treatment systems.

 

BU: It also belongs to the so-called “invasive organism”: The North Pacific starfish Asterias.

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