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DFDS 'hopeful' on bilateral exemptions from ballast water convention

DFDS 'hopeful' on bilateral exemptions from ballast water convention
DFDS is “hopeful” that bilateral agreements between some states in Europe can be reached on exemptions from having to comply with the Ballast Water Management (BWM) Convention on all shortsea routes.

With the BWM Convention expected to ratified in the near future, and coming into force a year after, there are currently no exemptions for international shipping no matter how short the voyage.

“As it stands today we have to fit ballast water systems to all our ships, we have no domestic routes,” DFDS director of environment and sustainability Poul Woodall, told Seatrade Global on the sidelines of the Cleaner and more energy efficient shipping conference in Copenhagen. Danish domestic ferry routes will be exempt from the convention.

The options to exempt a route from the convention ar either positively proving that there is no impact. To this he explained: “It’s very expensive, you have to face all the costs of doing the survey and you have to make the results public.”

Or the other option is for bilateral agreements between states. “I hope that there will be some positive results on that,” Woodall said. He cited the 4 km ferry voyage between Helsingør in Denmark and Helsingborg in Sweden, and that under the convention a bilateral exemption could be agreed for this.

Similarly he was a “little bit optimistic” they could talk to national authorities on other shortsea route such as Dover and Calais between the UK and France, however, he also noted time was short.

Otherwise shortsea owners and operators such as DFDS face having to spend in the region of EUR500,000 ($628,000) per ship to fit ballast water treatment systems to any vessel trading internationally, regardless of the length of trade route it serves.

Denmark is set to lobby for some shortsea shipping to be exempt from the convention at IMO’s next Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) in October.