Professional Documents
Culture Documents
December 2009
Loss prevention briefing for North of England Members
BRIEFING
SHIPS
Contents
Ballast Water and its threat to the worlds oceans ............................................................................................ 2 Examples of invasive species .............................................................................................................................. 2 Background to the Convention ............................................................................................................................ 3 The International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships Ballast Water and Sediments ... 3 Alternative National Regulations ......................................................................................................................... 5 Ballast water exchange methods......................................................................................................................... 6 Ballast water treatment ......................................................................................................................................... 8 Alternative ballast water management options .................................................................................................. 10 Interpretation, application and enforcement ...................................................................................................... 12 What Next? ............................................................................................................................................................. 14
Disclaimer The purpose of this publication is to provide a source of information which is additional to that available to the maritime industry from regulatory, advisory, and consultative organisations. Whilst care is taken to ensure the accuracy of any information made available no warranty of accuracy is given and users of that information are to be responsible for satisfying themselves that the information is relevant and suitable for the purposes to which it is applied. In no circumstances whatsoever shall the Association be liable to any person whatsoever for any loss or damage whensoever or howsoever arising out of or in connection with the supply (including negligent supply) or use of information. Unless the contrary is indicated, all articles are written with reference to English Law. However it should be noted that the content of this publication does not constitute legal advice and should not be construed as such. Members should contact the Association for specific advice on particular matters. North of England P&I Association, The Quayside, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 3DU, UK Tel: +44 191 232 5221 Fax: +44 191 261 0540 Email: risk.management@nepia.com Website: www.nepia.com Copyright North of England P&I Association 2009
North of England P&I Association, The Quayside, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 3DU, UK Tel: +44 191 232 5221 Fax: +44 191 261 0540 Email: risk.management@nepia.com Website: www.nepia.com
The International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships Ballast Water and Sediments
Ballast Water Management Convention The International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted the Ballast Water Management Convention in 2004. The Convention provides regulations and technical standards for the control and management of ballast water and will enter into force 12 months after ratification by 30 states representing 35% of world merchant shipping tonnage. Although the initial adoption of the convention has been slow there are signs of the process accelerating with many countries preparing to adopt the convention in the near future. At present 20 states representing some 20.93% of world tonnage have ratified the Convention. The convention will have a significant effect on the design and operation of ships and it is vital for ship owners to start preparing for the installation of new equipment now. Who will the Convention apply to? The Convention will apply to ships flagged to states that have ratified it and to ships entering the jurisdictions of those states. The Convention will not generally apply to ships not designed or constructed to carry ballast water, ships only operating within one jurisdiction, naval ships and other state-owned ships, or ships with permanent ballast water in sealed tanks. Ballast water management standards The purpose of ballast water management is to prevent harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens travelling from one part of the world to the other. This can be achieved in one of two ways: by changing the ballast water during the voyage, or by treating the ballast water. The targets set by the Convention for these two methods are known as the ballast water exchange standard and ballast water performance standards respectively. Ballast water exchange standard The ballast water exchange standard is seen as an interim solution and requires that ships performing ballast water changes must exchange at least 95% of the volume of the ballast water in the ships ballast tanks. For ships exchanging ballast water by the pump-through method, which is described below, pumping through three times the volume of each ballast water tank will be considered to meet the 95% volumetric exchange standard.
North of England P&I Association, The Quayside, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 3DU, UK Tel: +44 191 232 5221 Fax: +44 191 261 0540 Email: risk.management@nepia.com Website: www.nepia.com
Timetable for compliance Existing ships will need to comply with the requirements to exchange ballast water (exchange standards) from the date of ratification until January 2014 or 2016, depending on their ballast capacity (see table). Thereafter they will need to comply with requirements to treat ballast water (performance standards). Ships built after January 2009 have to comply with the performance standards by January 2012 or by January 2016 depending on their ballast capacity and when they were built. The table gives details of the current situation. Comply with exchange standards (Reg D-1) Until January 2014 Comply with performance standards (Reg D-2) From January 2014 From January 2016 From January 2012 From January 2010 Until January 2016 From January 2016 From January 2012
Date of Construction
January 2009 January 2010 After January 2010* January 2010 - January 2012 After January 2012
*At MEPC 58 discussion on the availability of equipment to meet the compliance dates for vessels constructed during 2010 concluded without the granting of a period of grace. It is now the view that there are sufficient ballast water treatment technologies available to enable the compliance dates to be met. Ballast water management plan To implement the requirements of the ballast water management standards in practice, each ship will need a
North of England P&I Association, The Quayside, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 3DU, UK Tel: +44 191 232 5221 Fax: +44 191 261 0540 Email: risk.management@nepia.com Website: www.nepia.com
The plan will obviously have to be drawn up specifically for each ship, and be written in the working language of the ship with a translation into English, Spanish or French. Ballast water record book Ships will have to keep a record of ballast operations to provide evidence that the required measures have been complied with. These may be kept in a separate record book, an electronic system or alternatively integrated into another record book or system. Operations that need recording include when ballast water is: taken on board circulated or treated discharged into the sea or a reception facility accidentally taken onboard or discharged
Entries into the Ballast Water Record Book should include the date, time, volume, location, signature of the officer in charge, whether or not the ballast water management plan was implemented and any other general remarks. The Ballast Water Record Book will have to be kept onboard for a minimum period of two years after the last entry and then in the control of the company for at least another three years. Getting this aspect of the ballast water management system right is vital. There are likely to be parallele with the oily water separator prosecutions in the USA. Many of these prosecutions are not based around actual physical evidence of wrongdoing but instead on false entries in the oil record book. It is an offence to submit false records to federal officials USA and vessel/owners are fined on the basis of these false statements. Therefore log book entries detailing ballast operations must be true, complete, and accurate record of all ballasting activity that has taken place onboard. Survey and certification requirements Ships will require a number of surveys by their flag State to show that the ships construction and equipment, and management system, comply with the Convention requirements. All ships over 400 GT will require an International Ballast Water Management Certificate and will be subject to the following surveys: Initial survey before certification. Renewal survey at specified intervals. Intermediate survey within three months of either the second or third anniversary date of the certificate. Annual survey within three months of each anniversary. Additional survey after any change, replacement or significant repair.
Certificates will be issued by the flag State and will be valid up to a maximum of five years, subject to the survey requirements above. A certificate will cease to be valid if there is a change of equipment or if there is a change of flag State.
Safety Even if a ship can comply with the location requirements for ballast water exchange some investigations have raised serious concerns for the safety of many existing ship types when using the pump-through or flow-through method. Air pipes are not designed to be exposed to high volumes of water being pumped for prolonged periods. Over-pressure, where tank tops and bulkheads of ballast spaces may suffer abnormal loading from pressures that were not incorporated into the original ship design. Under-pressure, where significant damage may occur when there is a large drop in pressure due to a rapid change in the contents of a tank. Over-pressure and under-pressure can and should be considered in new ship design but many existing ships may need strengthening to avoid these problems. When adopting a procedure for ballast water exchange, the risk assessment should consider all hazards including: effects on longitudinal strength internal dynamic stress from sloshing over-pressure under-pressure loss of structural strength loss of stability reduction or loss of manoeuvrability and navigational capabilities. Many Classification societies are actively assisting ship owners in individual risk assessments and operational requirements for ballast exchange on individual ships under various conditions. Tank coatings Another consideration that needs to be taken into account is the effect of increased ballast water exchange on the paint coating of a ships tanks. It is conceivable that if a ship carries out ballast water exchange more frequently, then the tanks will have to be re-coated at more frequent intervals. This could mean more time in drydock and increased paint and labour costs.
North of England P&I Association, The Quayside, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 3DU, UK Tel: +44 191 232 5221 Fax: +44 191 261 0540 Email: risk.management@nepia.com Website: www.nepia.com
The IMO has developed guidelines Guidelines for approval and oversight of prototype ballast water treatment technology programmes governing the use of the various treatment methods. Systems must also be safe in terms of the ship, its equipment and the crew and any active substances used to treat ballast water must be approved by the IMO. However, approval of the ballast management system actually used on a ship is by the ships flag State. Treatment Standards The number of viable organisms, discharged from ballast tanks should be reduced to the following levels: Discharge of less than 10 viable organisms per cubic metre greater than or equal to 50 micrometres in minimum dimension. Discharge of less than 10 viable organisms per ml less than 50 micrometres in minimum dimension and greater than or equal to 10 micrometres. In addition, certain organisms are classed as indicator microbes and their discharge must be limited to less than the following specified concentrations. Toxicogenic Vibrio cholerae (O1 and O139): less than one colony-forming unit (cfu) per 100 millilitre or less than 1 cfu per 1 gram (wet weight) zooplankton samples. Escherichia coli: less than 250 cfu per 100 millilitre. Intestinal Enterococci: less than 100 cfu per 100 millilitre.
Approval The IMO developed a rigorous approval procedure in order to try to ensure that systems, once approved, would function as intended in the marine environment. The approval process requires extensive testing both ashore and afloat. In addition to the IMOs approval process systems should have type approval from a Flag administration. Any system chosen for installation onboard should be fully type approved, or be recognized as such, by the flag administration of the vessel in question.
North of England P&I Association, The Quayside, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 3DU, UK Tel: +44 191 232 5221 Fax: +44 191 261 0540 Email: risk.management@nepia.com Website: www.nepia.com
North of England P&I Association, The Quayside, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 3DU, UK Tel: +44 191 232 5221 Fax: +44 191 261 0540 Email: risk.management@nepia.com Website: www.nepia.com
Costs There will be a high capital cost associated with the purchase and installation of the equipment. Purchase and installation costs will vary depending on the type of system chosen and the logistics involved in supplying and fitting the system to the vessel. Running costs will vary between the different systems. Manufacturers should have data available pertaining to the likely cost of treatment per cubic metre of treated ballast water. Operation and maintenance Any system that is going to be installed onboard a ship must be easy to operate and maintain. The crew will have to be trained to use the system safely and to carry out basic maintenance. The easier it is to operate and maintain the better. Training should be provided by the companies that are developing the systems. The cost of and ease of supply of spares should also be taken into consideration. Another factor to be into account is the strength of the company building the system. These systems are going to be onboard vessels for the next 20 30 years and it is worth examining the apparent strength of manufacturers that are under consideration in order that suitable servicing and the supply of spare parts over the lifetime of the system may be assured. Reliability Ballast water management systems have now been trialled and approved aboard working vessels. However, it remains to be seen if the widespread installation and use of such systems will provide the reliability in long term, day-to-day operation that is a vital factor with any shipboard equipment. Class Approval The fitting/retrofitting of these systems must be approved by Class. Class societies will pay particular attention to the safety critical aspects of the system and should be consulted during the design phase of the installation process.
10
Sediments When a ship takes on ballast water in a shallow area sediments containing marine organisms may also be pumped into the ballast tanks. These sediments accumulate in the ballast tanks and may provide a habitat in which organisms can survive and reproduce. This could potentially lead to the release of the same invasive species at multiple ports. Countries that are party to the Ballast Water Management Convention are required to ensure that adequate sediment reception facilities are provided in the ports and terminals where cleaning or repair of ballast tanks occurs. These reception facilities are intended to provide a safe disposal of sediments and operate without causing undue delay to ships. The Convention also includes regulations for sediment management onboard ships. All ships will be required to remove and dispose of sediments from ballast tanks in accordance with the provisions of the ships Ballast Water Management Plan. In addition, ships constructed from 2009 should be designed and constructed to minimise the uptake and entrapment of sediments, facilitate removal of sediments and provide safe access to allow for sediment removal and sampling. The obvious way to avoid the potential problems caused by sediments in ballast tanks is to limit their uptake and accumulation. This can be done without installing any additional equipment by: limiting the quantity of ballast water that is taken onboard in shallow areas, as far as this is practical and safe exchanging ballast water taken on in shallow areas as soon as possible before sediments have time to
North of England P&I Association, The Quayside, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 3DU, UK Tel: +44 191 232 5221 Fax: +44 191 261 0540 Email: risk.management@nepia.com Website: www.nepia.com
11
12
However, a routine inspection may become a detailed inspection if a ship does not have a valid certificate or there are clear grounds for believing that the condition of the ship or its equipment does not correspond with its certificate, or the master or crew are not familiar with the ballast water management plan, or have not implemented it. If a detailed inspection is carried out, the inspectors will not allow the ship to discharge any ballast water until it is confirmed that there is no threat to the environment, human health, property or resources. Sampling Routine sampling may be carried out by the appropriate authorities when a ship visits port to ensure that the ballast water is within the specifications required by the Convention. The IMO Guidelines for Ballast Water Sampling (G2 Guidelines) outline the procedures to be undertaken when sampling for the purpose of determining compliance of water treated by ballast water exchange and treatment. The guidelines recommend that samples be taken via the ballast discharge line, as near to the point of discharge as practicable, for the best representative sample. Samples should also be representative of the whole discharge and not just one tank. Alternatively sampling may be via sounding/air pipes, or manholes, or from pumps. Prior to testing for compliance with the D-2 standard, it is recommended that, as a first step, an indicative analysis of ballast water discharge may be undertaken to establish whether a ship is potentially compliant or noncompliant. This will allow the authorities to take immediate steps to mitigate the potentially harmful effect of ballast discharge whilst further sampling takes place. The Convention also states that time taken for analysing the samples is not to be used as a basis for unduly delaying the operation, movement or departure of the ship. If the sampling leads to results indicating that the ship poses a threat to the environment, human health, property or resources, then the ship will be prohibited from discharging ballast water until the threat is removed. At present introducing a practicable, valid sampling regime is proving something of a hurdle for the authorities as significant amounts of water (tonnes) are required to be sampled. Considerable effort is being directed towards sampling methodology and laboratories in the USA. Interpretation One of the major concerns about the introduction of the Ballast Water Management Convention is that it may be interpreted, applied and enforced differently between jurisdictions. The key to the success of IMO conventions has been that member states have interpreted, applied and enforced convention requirements in a uniform manner. If this is not the case with the Ballast Water Management Convention and member states adopt a unilateral approach, then ships could potentially be faced with different rules and regulations in different jurisdictions, which could make compliance extremely difficult or perhaps even impossible. National and local regulations are already in place in some jurisdictions and although the majority are consistent with the Convention, some differ markedly. The ongoing delays in the entry into force of the convention can only exacerbate the current situation. Another concern is that the Convention could potentially be manipulated to suit the needs or objectives of individual people, local authorities, ports or countries. The criminalisation of seafarers for alleged pollution incidents creates a situation where there appears to be a tendency to consider a ship is guilty until proven innocent.
North of England P&I Association, The Quayside, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 3DU, UK Tel: +44 191 232 5221 Fax: +44 191 261 0540 Email: risk.management@nepia.com Website: www.nepia.com
13
What Next?
It appears that there may now be sufficient political momentum behind the Convention to allow it to enter into force some time during 2010 or 2011. Although the 2016 deadline appears to be a long way off Members would be prudent to begin preparations for the identification and installation of suitable equipment on their vessels immediately, if they have not already done so. Planning a phased installation across a fleet will enable the cost to be spread over several years and ensure that Members technical department is not faced with a capital intensive, time constrained, project in the run up to the implementation date. Depending on the outcome of the latest consultation process in the USA it may be that new vessels trading to USA will have to comply with the treatment standard as early as 2012. An industry news item will be posted on our website when the results of the consultation process in the USA are known. Below is appended a list of approvals granted by IMO to September 2009.
North of England P&I Association, The Quayside, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 3DU, UK Tel: +44 191 232 5221 Fax: +44 191 261 0540 Email: risk.management@nepia.com Website: www.nepia.com
14
Table (1) List of ballast water management systems that make use of Active Substances which received Basic Approval from IMO*
Name of the system and proposing country 1 SEDNA Ballast Water Management System (Using Peraclean Ocean), Germany Electro-Clean (electrolytic disinfection) system (subsequently changed to Electro-Cleen ), the Republic of Korea Special Pipe Ballast Water Management System (combined with Ozone treatment), Japan EctoSys electrochemical System, Sweden PureBallast System, Sweden NK Ballast Water Treatment System, the Republic of Korea (subsequently changed to NK-O3 BlueBallast
Techcross Ltd. and Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute (KORDI) Japan Association of Marine Safety (JAMS)
24 March 2006
13 October 2006
Permascand AB, Sweden, subsequently acquired by RWO GmbH, Germany Alfa Laval/ Wallenius Water AB NK Company Ltd., the Republic of Korea
5 6
System (Ozone))
7 Hitachi Ballast Water Purification System (ClearBallast), Japan Resource Ballast Technologies System, South Africa GloEn-PatrolTM Ballast Water Management System, the Republic of Korea OceanSaver Ballast Water Management System (OS BWMS), Norway TG Ballastcleaner and TG Environmentalguard System , Japan Greenship Sedinox Ballast Water Management System, the Netherlands Ecochlor Ballast Water Treatment System, Germany Hitachi, Ltd. /Hitachi Plant technologies, Ltd. Resource Ballast Technologies (Pty) Ltd. Panasia Co., Ltd. 4 April 2008
4 April 2008
4 April 2008
10
MetaFil AS
4 April 2008
11
12
The Toagosei Group (TG Corporation, Toagosei Co. Ltd. and Tsurumi Soda Co. Ltd.) Greenship Ltd
13
Table 1 (continue)
Name of manufacturer
16
Blue Ocean Shield Ballast Water Management System, China Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (HHI) Ballast Water Management System (EcoBallast), the Republic of Korea AquaTriCombTM Ballast Water Treatment System, Germany
China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (COSCO) Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. the Republic of Korea
17 July 2009
Table (2) List of ballast water management systems that make use of Active Substances which received Final Approval from IMO*
Name of the system and proposing country 1 2 PureBallast System, Norway SEDNA Ballast Water Management System (Using Peraclean Ocean), Germany Electro-Cleen System, the Republic of Korea OceanSaver Ballast Water Management System (OS BWMS), Norway
Techcross Ltd. and Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute (KORDI) MetaFil AS
Ballast Water Management System (CleanBallast), Germany NK-O3 BlueBallast System (Ozone), the Republic of Korea Hitachi Ballast Water Purification System (ClearBallast), Japan Greenship Sedinox Ballast Water Management System, the Netherlands
17 July 2009
7 8
Table (3) List of ballast water management systems that make use of Active Substances which received Type Approval Certification by their respective Administrations, following Final Approval by IMO (resolution MEPC 175 (58))* Name of the ballast water management system PureBallast System Active Substance employed MEPC report granting Final Approval MEPC 56/23, paragraph 2.8
Name of the Administration Det Norske Veritas, as delegated by the Norwegian Administration
free radicals Cl2-, ClBr-, Br2- and CO3(refer to MEPC 56/2/2, annex 5) PERACLEAN Ocean (refer to MEPC 57/2/10 annex 7 HOCl (OCl-), HOBr (OBr-), O3 (H2O2), OH(refer to MEPC 58/2/7, annex 7)
10 June 2008
31 December 2008
Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency, Germany Ministry of Land, Transport and MarITIME Affairs, the Republic of Korea
SEDNA Ballast Water Management System (Using Peraclean Ocean) Electro-CleenTM System
Provided
Provided
Provided
HClO, Cl2, O3, H2O2, ClO2 and ClO- (refer to MEPC 58/2/8, annex 4)
This list was compiled based on the information provided by the respective Administrations.
Table (4) List of ballast water management systems that DO NOT use Active Substances certified by their respective Administrations (resolution MEPC 175 (58))* Name of the ballast water management system NEI Treatment System VOS-2500101 Copy of Type Approval Certificate Provided
Name of the Administration Office of the Maritime Administration, Marshall Islands Lloyds Register, as delegated by the Administration of the United Kingdom
29 April 2009
Provided
This list was compiled based on the information provided by the respective Administrations.