Ya hay fecha de entrada en vigor de esta convención.
The convention is set to enter into force on 8 September 2017 after accession by Finland this week, which fulfilled the requirements of the convention and trigged its entry into force. The convention has now been ratified by 20 States, representing 35% of the world’s merchant shipping tonnage.
The IMO has been addressing the problem of invasive species in ships’ ballast water since at least the 1980s, when Member States experiencing particular problems brought their concerns to the attention of IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC). Guidelines to address the issue were adopted in 1991 and the IMO then worked to develop the Ballast Water Management Convention, which was adopted in 2004.
But not everyone is happy with the new convention. The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has expressed concern over the implementation of the new regime, calling for ‘urgent action’ from governments to act on the ballast water “chaos,” particularly in the U.S. where more stringent rules have been in place since 2014 and yet no treatment systems have been approved.
“We must ensure that shipowners can have absolute confidence that the expensive equipment they will soon have to install will be effective in treating ballast water conditions normally encountered during worldwide operations and be regarded as fully compliant during Port State Control inspections,” commented ICS Chairman, Esben Poulsson.
“The fixing of a definite implementation date, after so many years of delay, will at least give shipowners some of the certainty needed to make important decisions about whether to refit the new mandatory treatment equipment or otherwise to start sending ships for early recycling,” Poulsson added. “Unfortunately, the entry into force of the new IMO regime will not resolve the extreme difficulties that still exist in the United States.”
With entry into force of the IMO Ballast Water Convention now set for September 2017, owners have been calling on a Finnish naval architecture and marine engineering firm to provide an independent assessment of their ballast water management system retrofit options
The addition of signatures to the 2004 International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments in recent months cannot disguise the fact that this is an IMO measure resisted since conception. The 52 states now signed up at IMO exceed the 30 required, but represent ‘only’ 35.1441% of the world tonnage, just barely breaching the 35% threshold needed to trigger entry into force 12 months after ratification. Now with legal ‘instrument’ seemingly imminent, it is still not a done deal.
However, in 2016 owners are taking matters into their own hands, in the firm belief that technical answers are urgently needed on optimal BWMS performance for existing ships.
Leading naval architecture and marine engineering consultancy Foreship has recently been providing detailed advice on the retrofit options, with feasibility studies covering single ships. Foreship is assessing different technical solutions and similar technologies from different suppliers for a range of vessel types and ages, and evaluating overall installation work, installation locations, and temporary and permanent structural modifications.
Olli Somerkallio, Foreship Head of Machinery Department, explains that while choosing between systems will certainly be guided by cost, comparisons can be less than straightforward.
“We have focused on the technical aspects of the installation, meaning space for equipment, piping connections and electrical compatibility,” says Somerkallio. “Expertise in naval architecture, marine engineering and ship behaviour are all needed to yield meaningful results.”
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The U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety Center today issued the first U.S.C.G. Ballast Water Management System Type Approval Certificate to Norwegian manufacturer Optimarin AS after a detailed review of the type approval application determined the system met the requirements of 46 CFR 162.060.
The Optimarin Ballast System is a filtration/ultraviolet ballast water management system with treatment capacities ranging from 167m3/h to 3000m3/h.
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In addition to meeting the requirements of the Convention, ships entering U.S. waters will also need to meet the stringent standards laid down in the U.S. Ballast Water Regulations and enforced by the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG). The U.S. has not acceded to the Convention but adopted its own ballast-water regulations in 2012.
This disconnect in requirements has left many shipowners wondering if their vessels will be able to operate in U.S. waters when the Convention comes into force. The uncertainty in this area has been compounded by the fact that only three equipment makers – Optimarin, Alfa Laval and Ocean Saver – have systems that are approved and considered fully compliant with both the Convention and US Ballast Water regulations. A fourth system is currently being considered by the USCG for full approval.
With the Convention entering into force in less than 7 months, the pressure is certainly on for shipowners who must find a suitably robust BWMS for their operations and in the case of existing ships have the system installed by the date of their first International Oil Pollution Prevention (IOPP) Renewal Survey after 8 September this year.
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individual shipowners will also need to invest in training crew members to handle new equipment, ensuring that appropriate safety protocols are well established, and costs associated with disruptions due to dry-docking and equipment installation are contained.
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