Assembly Resolution on Application
After over a decade of discussion an international conference to agree measures for the management of ships’ ballast water and sediments was held at the IMO in February 2004, leading to adoption of a new Convention. The Convention provides an international framework for the management of ballast water and sediments, while allowing for regional interests to introduce additional measures to meet specific standards or requirements, consistent with international law.
All ships designed to carry ballast water will be obliged to implement a Ballast Water Management Plan approved by the Administration (Flag State) and taking into account Guidelines to be developed by the IMO. This plan must be specific to each ship and detail the procedures to be undertaken to implement ballast water management requirements, including the disposal of sediments. Ships of 400 GT and above to which the Convention applies will be subject to surveys to verify that the Plan and any associated structures and fittings comply with the requirements of the Convention and a certificate will be issued accordingly, to be valid for a maximum of five years.
Each ship will have to maintain a ballast water record book which will be kept on board the ship for at least two years after the last entry has been made and be available for inspection at all times. The Convention provides for all vessels eventually to employ ballast water treatment systems approved by their Administration that are capable of meeting the standards prescribed in the Convention. In the meantime, in order to allow for the development of technologies that meet those standards, the continued use of ballast water exchange will be permitted.
The Convention will come into force twelve months after thirty states, the combined fleet of which constitute not less than thirty five percent the gross tonnage of the world fleet, have ratified. Progress is gradually being made in addressing what has been one of the principal obstacles to ratification, namely the lack of approved treatment systems. MEPC 58 granted basic approval to three more systems and two were given final approval.
MEPC 58 also managed to complete the development of the last of the fourteen sets of guidelines considered necessary for the implementation of the Convention with its adoption of the Guidelines for Ballast Water Sampling (G2 Guidelines). Amendments to the text of these guidelines took into account concerns expressed by industry and should now provide a greater degree of clarity. For example, the guidelines now make it clear that the samples taken should be representative of the “whole” of the ballast being discharged rather than a snapshot of a particular tank. There is still some uncertainty about how to deal with a situation where a sample is found to be non-compliant with the terms of the Convention even though the vessel is correctly operating an approved ballast water treatment system. The issue will be considered further by the Sub-Committee on Flag State Implementation, which is currently developing Guidelines for Port State Control.