Proposal for Converting the Interim Guidance on the application of the BWM Convention to Ships operating in Challenging Water Quality Conditions into a Standard Guidance

Submitted by Republic of Korea, United Arab Emirates, ICS, BIMCO, INTERTANKO and WSC.

This document provides a proposal to convert the Interim guidance on the application of the BWM Convention to ships operating in challenging water quality conditions (resolution MEPC.387(81)) into a standard guidance, to streamline the reactive bypass and decontamination procedures, and to mitigate constraints arising from the designation of ballast water exchange (BWE) areas under the current Guidance. The proposal takes into account the ongoing review of the BWM Convention, the operational challenges encountered by ships and crews in implementing the existing procedures, and study results demonstrating that the application of ballast water exchange plus treatment (BWE + BWT) alone ensures compliance with the D-2 standard even when ballast water is bypass-taken under CWQ conditions.

Read the full WSC Proposal here.