Under the new convention, ships trading in international waters will need to ensure they are fitted with a ship-specific ballast water management systems, costing the industry as a whole billions of dollars.
But speaking at last week’s Marine Money event in Dubai, Svein Eloff Pedersen, ceo of Noah Ship Management warned against owners rushing into costly installations.
“New regulation is coming soon meaning owners will have to install ballast water treatment systems, but there is a five year window,” Pederson told an industry conference in Dubai last week.
“There are around 50-70 suppliers of ballast water systems that have IMO have approved, but there “are very few that have been approved in the US.
So, for those that haven’t installed, I would wait. It is better to wait because not all systems are being approved by the US. In the US there is an up to five years grace period to install a system that is compliant.”
Pederson also warned operators that installing the systems would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and even then would not necessarily be approved by US authorities.
Under US Coast Guard rules, shipowners can apply for an extension to their compliance date if they can prove an approved ballast system is not available to install on their vessel.
However, vessels will have to comply with new rules by the beginning of 2021, with no exceptions.
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