ICS calls on IMO to delay ballast water convention implementation

The International Chamber of Shipping is urging the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization to back a proposal that seeks to change the installation deadline for the Ballast Water Management Convention.    The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), a global trade association for shipowners, says it wants the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization (IMO) to back a proposal from a coalition of governments concerning the implementation dates for installing new ballast water treatment systems.
   The proposal – put forth by Brazil, the Cook Islands, India, Norway, Liberia and the United Kingdom – seeks to change the installation deadline for the Ballast Water Management (BWM) Convention, which is due to enter force Sept. 8.
   The BWM Convention aims to address the problem of invasive marine organisms that have damaging impacts on local ecosystems being transported from one area to another in ships’ ballast tanks.
   As currently drafted, the BWM Convention requires existing ships to retrofit the new systems by their first International Oil Pollution Prevention (IOPP) survey following the global entry into force of the new regulations, the ICS explained.
   Under the proposal, “implementation would be delayed for existing ships by pushing back the date they are required to start fitting ballast water management systems by a further two years to the date of their first IOPP renewal survey on or after Sept. 8, 2019,” the chamber said. “This would extend the date by which all ships must have installed a system to 2024 from 2022.”
   “If this pragmatic proposal is agreed, this would allow shipping companies to identify and invest in far more robust technology to the benefit of the marine environment,” said ICS Secretary General Peter Hinchliffe.