Over the Finnish Line
Finland ratified the IMO’s Ballast Water Management Convention (BWMC), raising the percentage of world tonnage to 35.1441% and the number of ratifying countries to 52.
This means that the hurdle of 30 countries representing 35% of the world’s merchant fleet has now been met and on September 8, 2017 (one year from now), the BWMC will enter into force.
While the approval process for this new regime – meant to protect local ecosystems from the impacts of invasive species – took a very long time, it may still come too soon for some owners.
The “International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments” was adopted by the IMO more than 12 years ago (in February 2004).
However, as Intertanko pointed out in their press release: “the IMO has yet to complete its work on reviewing and revising the G-8 type approval guidelines for ballast water management systems.” There are currently more than 50 treatment systems on the market that are approved under the current IMO regime, but not all of these systems may be granted final approval by the IMO.
An estimated 60-70,000 vessels will need to have some sort of ballast water treatment system installed in the five year period between 2017 and 2022.
While this is a large number of vessels, the retrofitting will be done during regular drydock intervals and for most vessels the installation of a BWTS will not add significantly to the time in the shipyard and we think that the yards will be able to handle the workload without too much disruption.
Will the cost of these systems encourage some owners to scrap their vessel rather than take it through another special survey? That may happen in certain individual cases. A scrapping decision depends on many factors, including the state and outlook for the market, scrap prices and the general state of maintenance of the vessel. The cost of a BWTS could tip the scale toward scrapping, but will not be the driving force.
