ICS proposes ballast water solution

ICS is behind a paper, submitted to the IMO in conjunction with several other shipping organisations, that suggests a draft MEPC resolution that could be adopted by IMO Member States before the BWM Convention enters into force. The Chamber hopes that this can be fully discussed at the next MEPC meeting, to be held in October 2014 in London.

The paper was agreed in principle by the national shipowner associations at the ICS AGM in Cyprus. The meeting considered the deep flawsin the Convention (adopted in 2004 when the technology required to comply had not been widely tested or proven commercially) and possible solutions to these issues.

ICS members concluded that there is now a greater understanding of these problems amongst IMO Member States which for many seems to be the primary issue impeding ratification. These obstacles include the lack of robustness of the current type-approval process for the very expensive new treatment systems that will be required, doubts about the procedures to be followed during Port State Control, and the need to provide confidence to shipowners that have already installed the new equipment (or are about to do so) that they will be regarded by the authorities as compliant.

ICS supports the objectives of the Convention and recognises that its eventual entry into force is inevitable. However, ICS fears that unless these problems are resolved immediately at IMO there is a considerable risk that the regime will not be fit for purpose.

ICS says it is particularly concerned that port state sanctions could impact unfairly on shipowners who, in good faith, have fitted type-approved equipment, only to be told subsequently that it falls short of the required standard.

ICS has stressed that at the IMO Marine Environment Protection Committee meeting in October 2014, governments will need to take what may be the final opportunity to act by agreeing some relatively simple changes to how the Convention will be implemented.

The current state of the Convention is that the number of states having ratified the Convention has crept up over the last few months from 36 to 40, well over the minimum number required, but the total tonnage represented by those states has only increased by a fraction of a percentage point to 30.25%, which still falls short of the required 35%.