Ballast Water Management

Shipping Industry Ballast Water Coalition

The World Shipping Council is a member of the Shipping Industry Ballast Water Coalition, a broad-based industry coalition formed to promote the development of a realistic and comprehensive mandatory national ballast water management (BWM) program to address the issue of transfer of non-indigenous aquatic invasive species in ballast water in a manner protective of marine safety and the environment and consistent with international policies and guidelines. The Coalition and its member associations represent the full spectrum of ocean carriers-tankers, bulk carriers, container vessels and roll-on/roll-off vessels-that carry the overwhelming majority of the United States' domestic and international commerce, the public ports at which they call, and U.S. maritime labor. The members of the Coalition have a direct interest in the regulatory framework for the management of ballast water and, consequently, in the structure and scope of an approval system for experimental shipboard installations of ballast water treatment systems. With regard to development of new BWM requirements, the Coalition supports the establishment of:

• a solution that maximizes consistency among domestic and international requirements;



• an economically achievable, biologically meaningful, and clearly defined BWM performance standard;



• a standardized testing protocol for developing comparable BWM technologies;



• an incentive-based experimental shipboard testing program; and



• appropriate and realistic grandfathering provisions that account for investments associated with installation, retrofitting and operation of new systems.

International Maritime Organization (IMO) Ballast Water Convention

In February of 2004, the IMO Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) held a Diplomatic Conference and approved a new International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments. This Convention represents the culmination of years of effort by the MEPC to develop new international requirements for the management of ballast water aboard ships. The Convention will enter into force one year after ratification by 30 states, representing 35% of the world’s tonnage. Of major significance in the Convention, is the development of a ballast water performance standard that will establish clear and consistent ballast water treatment requirements and will create a target for the development of new ballast water treatment technologies. Compliance with this ballast water performance standard will take effect earlier (in 2009) for new ships that carry less than 5,000 cubic meters of ballast water and later (in 2016) for existing ships that carry less than 1500 or more than 5000 cubic meters of ballast water. Until ships are required to comply with the performance standard, they will be required to perform ballast water exchange (BWE), which involves a ship exchanging ballast water taken on board in a port with mid-ocean seawater. The U.S. administration is currently evaluating the terms of the new Convention to make a determination as to how the U.S. will proceed with regard to ratification.

U.S. Coast Guard Ballast Water Management Program

The National Aquatic Invasive Species Act, enacted into law in 1996, gave the U.S. Coast Guard primary responsibility for establishing a ballast water management (BWM) program in the United States. The Coast Guard has devised the following regulatory strategy for implementing a national BWM program and has indicated that, as the lead agency in the U.S. delegation to the IMO MEPC, this strategy is consistent with the positions the U.S. is advocating at the IMO:

• Penalty Provisions to Enforce Mandatory Reporting of BWM Activities. As required by previous Coast Guard ballast water regulations, vessels bound for U.S. waters entering from outside the Exclusive Economic Zone are required to report and keep records of their BWM activities, although there are no penalty provisions for non-compliance (Note: BWM activities are not mandatory except for vessels bound for the Great Lakes). In January of 2003, the Coast Guard issued a proposed rule that would impose penalties for failing to comply with these BWM reporting and record-keeping requirements. The Shipping Industry Ballast Water Coalition submitted joint comments to the Coast Guard on this rulemaking on April 7, 2003. Coalition comments regarding penalty provisions  >> The Coast Guard plans to publish a final rule on this subject in the spring of 2004.



• Mandatory National Ballast Water Program. The Coast Guard issued proposed rules in July of 2003 to establish a mandatory national ballast water program, which would, among other things, require all vessels equipped with ballast water tanks entering U.S. waters to perform one of the following BWM practices: 1) prior to discharging ballast water in U.S. waters, perform complete ballast water exchange in an area no less than 200 nautical miles from any shore; 2) retain ballast water on board the vessel; 3) prior to entering U.S. waters, use an alternative environmentally sound method of BWM that has been approved by the Coast Guard; or 4) discharge ballast water at an approved reception facility. The Coalition filed joint comments to the Coast Guard on this rulemaking on October 28, 2003. Coalition comments regarding mandatory national program  >> The Coast Guard is expected to publish a final rule on this subject in the spring of 2004.



• Approval Program for Experimental Treatment Systems. In January of 2004, the Coast Guard announced (in Navigation and Vessel Inspection Circular No. 01-04) the establishment of the Shipboard Testing and Evaluation Program (STEP). STEP is a voluntary program in which vessels accepted into the program test and evaluate experimental ballast water treatment technologies and, in return, may be granted an equivalency to future BWM discharge regulations for up to the life of the vessel or the system. Additional information regarding STEP may be found at the following Coast Guard website: www.uscg.mil.

Ballast Water Legislation

In March of 2003, the National Aquatic Invasive Species Act of 2003 (NAISA) was introduced in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. The bill seeks to reauthorize and amend the National Aquatic Nuisance Species Prevention and Control Act of 1990, as amended by the National Aquatic Invasive Species Act of 1996 (NISA). The Senate version of the bill, S.525, is essentially a summation of the two House bills: HR 1080, which describes operational compliance requirements, and HR 1081, which outlines invasive species research provisions. With the approval of the new International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments in January of 2004, it is expected that there will be additional legislative activity relating to ballast water management and aquatic invasive species research during 2004.

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