ΘΑΛΑΣΣΙΑ ΑΣΦΑΛΕΙΑ

Mandatory rules imposed on shipping and their insurance cost

The IMO’s Ballast Water Management Convention enters into force on 8

September 2017 with two applicable standards for BW exchange and discharge

– D1 and D2:

(i) D1 Standard: applies to ballast water exchange in deepwater, normallymore

than 200 nautical miles from the nearest land in water at least 200 metres

in depth, which should be carried out taking into account the relevant

IMO Guidelines. Prior to the date by when a ship must comply with the D2

standard (see next paragraph), ballast water exchange in accordance with

the BWM Convention’s D1

exchange

standard is acceptable;

(ii) D2 Standard: applies to discharge of ballast water using a type-approved

ballast water management system on board the ship. In accordance

with the BWM Convention, the D2

discharge

standard must be complied

with by the time of the first International Oil Pollution Prevention (IOPP)

Certificate renewal, which is conducted at least once every five years for

each ship (as required under MARPOL Annex 1).

There are separate requirements for new build ships, with compliance

depending on the date upon which the keel was laid. The exact position is still

not clear, but now that the date of entry into force of the BWM Convention is

known, we can expect further clarification on compliance in due course.

What is the insurance cost of ensuring compliance with BWM regulations?. It

is the risk of fines being imposed for non-compliance. The difficulty is that at

present (a) nobody is certain of the level of fines that may be imposed, which

will depend on the country, and (b) there is currently no single form of ballast

water treatment system that will be accepted throughout the world. So,

for instance, although there are currently about 60 types of equipment that

carry an IMO type approval, such approval does not satisfy US requirements

because the US is not a party to the BWM Convention, with the United States

Coast Guard (“USCG”) having issued its own regulations with regard to the

treatment of ballast water.

The USCG regulations contain their own timeline for USCG acceptance of

approved ballast water treatment systems in the future though this has been

extended because, as at this date of this presentation (13 October 2016),

there are no USCG approved ballast water treatment systems available.

A further complication in the US is that, in addition to the USCG regulations,

the US Clean Water

Act (CWA) authorises the United States Environmental

5. Since this presentation was given on 13 October 2016, the USCG has approved three

ballast water treatment systems. See

guard-approves-new-bwms/