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ICS urges alterations to IMO Ballast Water Convention

ICS urges alterations to IMO Ballast Water Convention
The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has issued a formal request that the IMO incorporate a “grandfather” clause in its Ballast Water Management Convention (BWM Convention) at the meeting of its Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) next week.

Writing on Ballast Water Management Systems, the paper specifies that: “‘First generation’ type-approved equipment, installed in good faith prior to the Convention entering into force and before the G8 Guidelines have been reviewed and amended, should be grandfathered for the life of the ship, and a new category of ‘gross non-compliance’ be defined and applied to these systems to allow for some variation in treatment efficacy during normal operation.” The move attempts to avert the stalemate experienced in shipping thus far, where shipowners have held off on investing in first generation Ballast Water Treatment Systems (BWTS) on the grounds they may be found to be non-compliant later.

“At the moment… the position of ICS is that it cannot actively encourage additional IMO Member States to ratify the BWM Convention until there is confidence that the new treatment equipment will actually work, or that when in operational use it will comply with the standards that IMO has set for controlling unwanted marine micro-organisms.”

The paper also suggested that any G8 Ballast Water guidelines be subject to a “comprehensive and exhaustive review” and that the guidelines be given a mandatory status, “as soon as possible after the convention enters into force”, ICS also stated that “many problems” would be addressed if ballast water sampling by port state control authorities should only take place only after “clear grounds” for deliberate attempts at non-compliance have been established.

“If so decided, this Resolution would provide greater confidence for owners and operators installing treatment equipment, and could help end the current impasse,” said ICS secretary general Peter Hinchliffe.