ICS asks again for governments to see sense on ballast convention

ICS vice-chairman Esben Poulsson has asked IMO member states to make use of the solutions proposed in an ICS-led industry submission to the next, 67th, MEPC meeting to be held at IMO from 13-17 October.

Mr Poulsson explained that the issues governments need to address include the lack of robustness of the current IMO type-approval process for the expensive new treatment equipment, the criteria to be used for sampling ballast water during Port State Control inspections and the need for ‘grandfathering’ of already fitted type-approved equipment. Thus far, he says, governments have appeared reluctant to act collectively in a decisive manner.

“When the BWM Convention eventually enters into force, the shipping industry will be required to invest billions of dollars to ensure compliance. However, because of the unanswered questions about the Convention’s detailed implementation, much of the industry – and society at large – continues to lack confidence that the new treatment equipment will actually work, or that it will be found to comply with the standards that governments have set for killing unwanted marine micro-organisms,” he said, speaking at a ballast water convention in Singapore.

ICS 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. At the same time, ICS feels that it would be relatively straightforward to make the ballast regime fit for purpose. Changes to the current legal framework, such as making IMO Guidelines on type-approval mandatory, could quickly be agreed in principle by governments.

“There is now a huge amount of lobbying taking place between industry associations and governments, but it remains to be seen if the industry will be successful in making governments see common sense,” said Mr Poulsson.