BALLAST WATER WARNING

[proud_ionian]

THE North of England P&I club is warning shipowners to start preparing now for the introduction of stringent new international and national ballast regulations. The club’s risk-management manager Tony Baker: 'The major issue now facing shipowners is the initial requirement to replace ballast water mid-voyage. Ship operators and ships' officers will need to plan for the stability and structural implications of substantial pumping operations at sea.”

North of England also points out that between 2009 and 2016, depending on their age and ballast capacity, ships will have to start complying with IMO's more stringent 'treatment standard', which specifies the allowable concentrations, sizes and species of viable organisms within ballast water. This will require existing ships to be retrofitted with type-approved ballast water treatment systems, says the club.

The club has just published a detailed analysis of the implications of the impending IMO ballast water management rules in a special issue of its loss-prevention newsletter Signals.

Introduction of invasive marine species - such as European zebra mussels, Asian kelp and North American jellyfish - by ship's ballast water is now considered by many to be as great an environmental threat to the world's oceans as oil pollution. In response IMO adopted a new Ballast Water Management Convention in February 2004, which is likely to enter into force worldwide by January 2009. The similar US Ballast Water Management Act 2005 is likely to come in at the same time and Australia is already operating a comparable regime.

SOURCE: MGN

[proud_ionian]

The initial 'exchange standard' of the IMO convention requires ships over 400 GT to replace at least 95% of their ballast water when more than 200 nautical miles offshore and in water over 200 m deep. This can be done either sequentially, involving emptying and refilling individual ballast tanks, or by pumping water through. IMO requires tanks to be pumped through three times to ensure a 95% exchange.

'Both methods potentially induce additional stresses in hull plates, tank tops, bulkheads and vent pipes that were not considered in a ship's original design,' says Mr Baker.