Page 18 - INTERCARGO - Annual Review 2023-2024

INDUSTRY TOPICS
Ballast
water
With the purpose of preventing
the spread of invasive species,
the International Maritime
Organization adopted The
International Convention for
the Control and Management
of Ships’ Ballast Water and
Sediments (Ballast Water Convention)
which entered into force
on 8th September 2017.
For more information on this topic, please visit:
https://www.intercargo.org/topics/ballast/
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Vessels constructed on or after 8 September 2017 have been
th
required to install a Ballast Water Treatment System to com-
ply with the Conventions discharge requirements. For vessels
constructed prior to this date, compliance with the Conven-
tion’s D-2 depended on a vessel’s IOPP survey cycle with the
th
final deadline being 8 September 2024
The relatively recent entry into force of the Convention, involv-
ing new regulations and the fitting and operation of equipment
that had previously not been used on ships has led, unsurpris-
ingly, to a number of challenges.
The implementation challenges of the Convention especially
relate to the performance of ballast water treatment systems,
the operating conditions and locations of vessels, and the
global coverage of technical support for the systems involved.
It is important to note that while ships are certified for global
trade, many of the available systems are not certified or able
to perform in all locations and conditions that vessels may
trade in, and this is particularly true for the bulk carrier fleet.
A holistic approach to regulations is also important. Shipping
is trying to decarbonise which in the short term to mid-term
will mean finding efficiencies and ultimately using less power.
However, regulations such as the Ballast Water Management
Convention effectively require vessels to use more power and
thus produce more emissions, leading to a situation where
one environmental regulation potentially has a negative ef-
fect on another environmental regulation. Regulators should
recognise the consequences of all regulations and how they
may impact each other.