[190311.EN.SEA] IMO Clean Ballast Rules Compliance Will Be 'very costly': P&I Club

BALLAST water treatment will be "very costly", said insurers of the UK P&I Club as they outlined liability faced by shipowners if the UN's International Maritime Organisation's (IMO) Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments comes to pass - which they assume it will.

What's more insurers warn that uncertainties make a choice of a suitable ballast water treatment system "extremely" difficult. "There are not enough installation facilities to cope with the work and a first-come, first-served system would not favour indecisive owners," said the statement from the group.

The UN convention would come into force a year after 30 states, representing 35 per cent of the world's tonnage, ratify the measure. So far 27 countries representing 25 per cent has signed on.

Ballast water's risk of introducing invasive alien species is said to have damaged fisheries. Without question, fears on this score have resulted in the expenditure of millions of dollars keeping water intakes clear of invasive alien species, say insurers.

If ratified, the convention would allow port state control officers to board ships to check on valid certificates, inspect the ballast water record book and take ballast water samples. Failures to satisfy inspectors can result in departure delays of vessels.

Once ratified, details for compliance and the sanctions are set out by P&I Club Legal Briefing. Sanctions are established under the law of the flag state for the ship concerned and these sanctions will be applicable wherever the violation occurs.

Source : HKSG.