Owners seek 'road map' on how states will use IMO ballast water rules

THE International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) is recommending that the IMO's Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) agree on a "road map" on how flag states will enforce the new convention for treating ballast water.

The advice that has the backing of other international shipowner organisations was released ahead of this week's MEPC meeting. 

The ICS said the problems associated with enforcement of the new International Maritime Organisation (IMO) water ballast treatment regulations include a perceived lack of robustness of the current IMO type-approval process for new treatment equipment and the criteria for sampling ballast water during port state control (PSC) inspections. 

ICS said that it believed the legal changes needed to make the ballast regime fit for purpose are relatively straight forward and could be agreed in principle quickly by IMO member states, reported London's Tanker Operator.

"If so decided, this resolution would provide greater confidence for owners and operators installing treatment equipment, and could help end the current impasse." said ICS secretary general Peter Hinchliffe. 

In a separate development, the ICS has given its backing to a CO2 global reporting system, as long as that the mechanism is simple to administer, is primarily based on fuel consumption and that the system itself will not be used for the development of a full blown market-based measure.