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Technical Notices

New guidance relating to the Ballast Water Management Convention

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Existing Ships to Install Ballast Water Management Systems

The IMO Ballast Water Management (BWM) Convention entered into force in 2017 but at that time it applied only to new vessels. But a new milestone is now upon us – the Convention will apply to existing vessels from 8 September 2019.

From this date, existing vessels have up until its next IOPP Certificate renewal survey to comply. This effectively means that vessels whose keel were laid before 8 September 2017 are likely to need to install an approved ballast water treatment system (BWTS) at some point between 8 September 2019 and 8 September 2024, depending the date of IOPP certificate renewal.

New vessels have been complying with the ballast water regulations for the last two years in an almost smooth way. There is a big difference, however, between installing a BWTS during newbuild and retrofitting a system on an existing vessel. On an existing vessel, such a system would not have been considered at time of original build and no dedicated space would have been allocated.

Amendments and resolutions relating to the International Maritime Organisation’s Ballast Water Management (BWM) Convention may affect ship survey and type approval work.

Be aware of the following changes, adopted by the IMO’s Maritime Environment Protection Committee during its 72nd session (MEPC 72):

  • Amendments to regulation B-3 – Implementation of D-2 standard to existing ships (Resolutions 297(72) and MEPC.298(72))

MEPC 72 formalised the decision taken at MEPC 71.

There is no substantial change to the decision taken by MEPC 71.

Regulation E-1 was amended to clarify that Additional surveys do not need an endorsement on the IBWM Certificate. Regulation E-5 was amended to clarify that the schedule of Annual surveys also applies to Intermediate surveys.

Ships may keep the text of the resolution on board in case a question is raised during a Port State Control (PSC) inspection.

  • Unified interpretation relating to the International Ballast Water Management Certificate – BWM.2/Circ.66

This clarifies the “date installed” of a D-2 compliant ballast water management system (BWMS) in relation to the date on the certificate (commissioning date) and the dates for application of the type approval guidelines (G8 and BWMS Code). It is therefore important for shipowners:

  1. To keep contract (order) and delivery note of the BWMS onboard
  2. To keep this circular on board, in case a question is raised during a PSC inspection.
  • Resolution 296(72) and MEPC.300(72) – Introduction of Ballast Water Management Systems (BWMS) Code

No substantial change in technical contents compared to the ‘2016 Guidelines for Approval of Ballast Water Management Systems (G8)’ (MEPC.279(70)), just the transition from ‘guidelines’ to a mandatory code. We will advise the details of this in a separate Class News.

  • Revised guidance on scaling of ballast water management systems 2/Circ.33/Rev.1

This revision substantially impacts type approval work, as it now requires identifying the most vulnerable model in undertaking the scale model test.

  • Revised Guidance for Administrations on the type approval process for ballast water management systems– BWM.2/Circ.43/Rev.1

The circular was updated due to the introduction of the BWMS Code.

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