IN 1326 – The Ballast Water Management Convention enters into force in September 2017

Yesterday, on 8 September 2016, a session by Finland triggered the entry into force of the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships Ballast Water and Sediments (BWM Convention), which aims to stop the spread of potentially invasive aquatic species in ships’ ballast water. 

Thirteen years after its adoption, the BWM Convention will enter into force on 8 September 2017. Under the Convention’s terms, ships will be required to manage their ballast water to remove, render harmless, or avoid the uptake or discharge of aquatic organisms and pathogens within ballast water and sediments. 

The Information Note (IMCA IN 1318) below provides further details. 

IMCA welcomes this significant environmental development, which provides certainty with regard to a definite implementation date.

IMCA and its industry partners have expressed concerns that type approval procedures for ballast water management systems need to be practical and that flag and port state administrations must be capable of implementing the requirements of the Convention.

This is something that IMO Member States will consider in October, during the next session of the IMO Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 70). At this session, all parties need to finalise the G8 Type Approval Guidelines for treatment systems in order to promote a workable implementation of the BWM Convention.