Ballast Water
A normal part of ship operation is the use of water ballast taken onboard vessels to ensure stability. Such water will contain organisms that will be transported by the ship until the vessel de-ballasts. While the vast majority of such organisms will not survive the journey or the introduction into a different environment some hardy species may survive and establish themselves. Such non-native species may cause serious ecological, economic and public health impacts, particularly when they become invasive.
Latest News
The final Ballast Water Scoping Study for North West Europe (Part 1 of the Ballast Water Management Strategy for NW Europe) is now available in two files listed below:
Ballast Water Scoping Study Part A
Ballast Water Scoping Study Part B
Parts 2 and 3 of the Ballast Water Management Strategy for NW Europe
Please see two papers that have been submitted by the United Kingdom to the OSPAR Convention meeting 2007, a Ballast Water Phase 2 Update (PDF, 40kb) and Voluntary Guidelines for Vessels Entering the OSPAR Region (PDF, 452kb)
Ballast Water Convention
In response to this the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), over many years, has been developing international legislation to prevent the harmful effects of transporting aquatic organisms in ships ballast water.“International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments”.
The main requirements of the Convention include: ships having on board a Ballast Water record book, which must be entered into after each ballast water operation;the phased implementation of a ballast water discharge standard, which is based on the ships ballast water capacity and its construction date.ships performing ballast water exchange with an efficiency of at least 95% volumetric exchange of ballast water. For ships exchanging the ballast water by the pumping-through method, pumping through three times the volume of each ballast tank will be considered equivalent to meeting the 95% standard; and ships adhering to the performance standard where levels are set at which quantities of organisms are allowed to be discharged in ships’ ballast water.
The convention will enter into force 12 months after it has been signed by 30 states representing 35% of world merchant shipping tonnage.
4 comments:
sir congratulations on your post.... he he he
Nice work... bro! Keep it up! Interesting topic and very useful information.
Yehey!!!
Any idea about the number of countries (or percentage of tonnage) that have ratified this convention?
TY guys. Will try to provide something new when avlbl.
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