ICS speaks on ballast water ‘chaos’

The newly elected ICS chairman, Masamichi Morooka, of Japan, speaking at the recent ICS annual general meeting held in Queensland, Australia, said that the Chamber supported IMO in terms of carbon emissions limitation, particularly the IMO secretary-general’s proposed impact assessment of the various market based measures. However, he was less well-disposed towards the current regulatory situation regarding ballast water, describing this as “chaos”. Mr Morooka commented: “ICS members identified genuine concerns about the availability of suitable ballast water treatment equipment, the robustness of the type approval process and the huge expense of retrofitting existing ships.”

Because of major changes proposed at IMO to important draft guidelines on ballast water sampling and analysis that will be used by port state control inspectors, the BWM Convention has still not entered into force, although it may do so within the next 12-18 months. ICS says the delayed entry into force of the Convention is causing serious problems for shipowners. The further delay creates problems for shipowners due to the fixed dates by which existing ships have to install the very expensive new treatment equipment as required by the Convention’s time line.

“A very large number of ships will need to be retrofitted, a process that cannot begin properly until the various IMO guidelines have been finalised. ICS has concluded that the issue of fixed dates needs to be addressed urgently and that a serious discussion is needed at IMO before the Convention enters into force.” said Mr Morooka.

At its AGM, the ICS discussed the US Coast Guard’s final rule-making on ballast water treatment (published in April) which creates serious questions as to whether the US standards for type approval of equipment and ballast water sampling, that will be used to inspect ships trading to the US, will be consistent with those expected to be adopted by IMO in 2013. For the sake of global uniformity, ICS members decided to request that IMO considers aligning its own draft guidelines with those of the US. The relevant ICS Committees have been asked to prepare a detailed submission to the next MEPC meeting in October 2012.

“It is vital that we avoid the potential for chaos when the Ballast Water Management Convention enters into force.” said Mr Morooka.

On the subject of emissions reduction and market based measures, Mr Morooka said: “If an MBM is adopted for shipping by governments, this must be applied internationally in order to maintain the level playing field and be developed at IMO. ICS members agree that the political and practical complexity of agreeing an MBM should not be underestimated, as the European Union is now finding with respect to aviation. Regardless of whether or not a maritime MBM is adopted, ships will still reduce their emissions as a result of the global agreement on technical and operational measures already delivered by our regulator, the IMO.”