Ballast Water Management Under the Ballast Water Management Convention - Global Maritime Transport and Ballast Water Management: Issues and Solutions - page 93

Phase in of the D-2 standard of the
BWM Convention

Ships
built

BW capacity (m³)

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

1500 - 5000

<2009

D-1 or D-2

D-2

<1500
>5000

<2009

D-2

D-1 or D-2

D-1 or D-2

2009 <5000

D-2

2010 <5000

D-2

2009

>5000 D-1 or D-2 D-2

<2012

2012 >5000

D-2

Fig. 1 The original phase-in plan of the ballast water performance standard (Regulation D-2) in
relation to the ballast water exchange standard (Regulation D-1) (David and Gollasch 2008 )
(Reprinted from David and Gollasch 2008 , copyright 2008, with permission from Elsevier)

constructed before the entry into force of the BWM Convention will not be required
to comply with Regulation D-2 until their fi rst renewal survey following the date of
entry into force of the BWM Convention. The aim of the resolution is to clarify that
although the BWM Convention itself cannot be changed prior to entry into force,
Regulation B-3 may be enforced on a realistic timeline upon entry into force of the
BWM Convention. This needs consensus amongst all IMO Member states. One
issue that was not anticipated was that the term “renewal survey” is not specifi cally
tied to any statutory requirement. That was solved by using the requirements for the
date of the issuance of the International Oil Pollution Prevention (IOPP) certifi cate
as the trigger for the renewal survey.
Several Delegations at MEPC65 expressed their concerns regarding this approach
because, due to the reduced urgency to implement BWM methods on board, it may
result in a relaxation of efforts to ratify the BWM Convention. It was further
assumed that this new approach would negatively impact the developers of BWMS
as sales of their units may be delayed.

Ballast Water Exchange Standard: D-1 Standard

Approximately 10 years ago when the D-2 standard was negotiated at IMO no
BWMS was readily available. In the absence of full scale BWMS to be installed on
vessels, it was suggested by MEPC that ballast water exchange (BWE) at sea may
reduce the risk of species introductions. Most vessels are enabled to conduct a BWE
without needing extra installations.
The reasoning behind BWE is that coastal organisms pumped on board during
ballast water uptake, when discharged at sea are unlikely to survive due to, e.g., salin-
ity issues and the lack of a hard substrate to complete their life cycle. In addition,