Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
initiatives are based upon BWE as BWMS are largely not installed on vessels.
Although more than 30 BWMS are type approved already and annually this number
increases, only few vessel owners started to install BWMS on their vessels. One of
the reasons for this may be the (substantial) costs involved and the unclarity when
the BWM Convention will enter into force.
Countries that wish to protect their seas from the introduction of HAOP via
ballast water are confronted with the challenge of balancing the effi ciency of BWM
measures and the safety and higher costs in the shipping industry as the result of
management efforts. For these reasons, the 'blanket approach' of requiring all
vessels to undertake BWM is unreasonable in many cases. Alternatively, the 'selective
approach' allows for the adjustment of the intensity of BWM measures to each vessel
and voyage-specifi c RA, thus both reducing safety risks and costs to the shipping
industry, while simultaneously allowing for improved environmental, human health,
property and resources protection. However, a selective approach requires more
extensive data gathering for port States, more data and reporting requirements for
vessels, and may require higher skills and knowledge from port State personnel.
All this can be overcome with an appropriate BWM decision support system (DSS).
A DSS is a supporting tool enhancing the decision-making process that uses a
combination of models, analytical techniques, and information retrieval to help develop
and evaluate appropriate decision alternatives. DSSs today are widely supporting
decision-making processes in business, social programs, medicine, policy, games,
information technologies, transport, and are major building blocks in environmental
management and science. Decision-makers are frequently faced with taking decisions
on very complex issues requiring a large data input, and forced to do so rapidly.
This is also the case with the BWM issue. DSS helps decision makers to reduce
uncertainties, as well as ease and speed-up the decision process.
The BWM DSS model presented in this topic was developed in line with the
BWM Convention and related guidelines, and further tested using real condition data
from the Port of Koper (Slovenia). The geographical, hydrological, meteorological,
important resources, shipping patterns, shipping safety and regulatory regimes were
considered in the DSS model and analysed in relation with the effectiveness of the
BWM. The results show some important advantages and effectiveness of the selec-
tive approach supported by the presented BWM DSS model, especially regarding
problems that arise from proximity to the shore and limited water depths on existing
vessel routes, as well as the length of voyages, demonstrated to be the main limiting
factors for effective BWE. In such cases, implementing the blanket approach would
practically mean that vessels would need to 'do nothing' to be compliant with the
BWM Convention, until the D-2 standard enters into force and BWMSs are installed
on vessels. The blanket approach, supported with a designated BWEA with requiring
all vessels to use it as an additional measure, shows some potential, especially
because it is relatively simple to implement. However, different vessels would be
unnecessarily exposed to additional BWM measures. BWM DSS shows also
different advantages when the D-2 standard will be in place, especially to support
compliance monitoring and enforcement, and in cases when a BWM was not
conducted satisfactory.
Search WWH ::




Custom Search