Owners conducting special surveys early delaying BWM system installation: ClassNK
ClassNK has seen a significant number of owners conducting special surveys earlier than scheduled pushing back the requirement to install ballast water management (BWM) systems until the end of the decade.
With the IMO’s BWM Convention due to come into force on 8 September 2017, owners will be required to retrofit a BWM system to existing vessels when they come up for their five-year special survey. A way to delay the fitting of systems, that can run into several million dollars for larger vessel, is to conduct special surveys earlier than required.
In a presentation to a technical seminar in Singapore on Thursday, ClassNK revealed that for vessels under its class many ships had their special surveys conducted in 2014 and 2015 pushing the date for the next survey, and the requirement to fit a BWM system to 2019 and 2020. A slide (pictured below) showed roughly 700 vessels under ClassNK with the due date for their next special survey shifting to 2019 and 2020 rather than an originally a much more even distribution across the period 2016 – 2020.
While some owners are seeking to delay installation of BWM systems ClassNK is also seeing an increased uptake in owners installing systems accounting for around 15% of ships registered with classification society or 1,000 – 1,500 vessels.
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