Ballast Water Management Decision Support System - Global Maritime Transport and Ballast Water Management: Issues and Solutions - page 237

Selection of a Vessel for the RA Process
The selection of a vessel that will need to enter the RA process is done on the basis
of data submitted via BWRF. Basically, all vessels which have declared an intention
to discharge unmanaged ballast water in the port are selected for the RA process.
If a vessel has declared that it has ballast water on board which will not be dis-
charged, such a vessel will not enter the RA process but will be notifi ed that no
BWM requirements apply to her and she is cleared to proceed. However, theoreti-
cally every vessel carrying ballast water and coming into a port has the potential to
discharge ballast water, and in view of possible false reporting, such a vessel is
checked with the BWDA model (see chapter “ Vessels and Ballast Water ” ). The
foreseen ballast water operation is assessed on the basis of expected cargo opera-
tions and vessel's particulars. If the BWDA model result disagrees with the declara-
tion, the vessel will be targeted for the verifi cation process.
If a vessel declared that she has already managed the ballast water intended for
discharge, then she will be, in the next two steps, checked for her trustworthiness
and the acceptability of the BWM method used. If she is found not trustworthy or
the BWM used was not acceptable, than she will enter the RA process. If a vessel
was not selected for RA process she is clear to proceed (see Fig. 7 ).
Decision 2: Is Vessel Trustworthy?
The main reason for introducing trustworthiness is the human factor. It is known
that false reporting occurs and that it is very diffi cult to survey it. There are also
many other reasons, some of the outstanding are low quality of vessel systems
maintenance, low crew skill level, sometimes also ignorance. These, however, are
also critical for proper and safe functioning of vessel systems.
Trustworthiness is focussed on the history of the false reporting of responsible
crew members, as well as on the vessel compliance history. False BWM reporting
related to a person may be kept in the records lifelong or time dependent, i.e., valid
for a certain period of time, e.g., 10 years. The vessel BWM compliance history and
general compliance is time dependent (see Fig. 8 ).
Decision 3: Is Ballast Water Management Acceptable?
If a vessel declares that it has already conducted BWM, this needs to be compared
with the port State BWM requirements. The decision relies on the information pro-
vided in the BWRF.
All ballast water tanks that are intended for discharge need to be managed and
the BWM method used is generally accepted if it fulfi ls the requirements of the
BWM Convention and/or those of the port State. It is also important that the vessel
follows procedures and requirements of the BWMS manufacturer and classifi cation
society (see Fig. 9 ).