Manufacturers and suppliers supporting global implementation of biosecurity regulations

Ballast Water Treatment: Why was that important again?

For decades, aquatic invasive species have had a significant environmental impact, reducing biodegradability and impacting fisheries while also significantly impacting local power requirements, as we found in the Great Lakes with the introduction of the Zebra mussels.

A lot of people think ballast water is an old issue, and ships have been traveling from place to place for hundreds of years now. Then why are these organisms suddenly being moved from place to place? Is ballast water something we really need to care about? The reality is that with global climate change, it most definitely is. Ocean temperatures are rising, and organisms that once were unable to flourished in areas after being transported across a large geographic barrier like an ocean, currents or salinity changes are now deposited in an environment they find more hospitable than ever before.

Invasive Aquatic Species (IAS)

Transferred aquatic species that establish themselves in new environments can become Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS), posing significant threats to local ecosystems, economies, and human health. AIS can disrupt native habitats, reduce biodiversity, impact fisheries and aquaculture, damage coastal infrastructure, and lead to closures of recreational areas.

Economic impacts may include:

• Reductions in fisheries production and aquaculture
• Physical impacts on coastal infrastructure by fouling species
• Closure of recreational and tourism beaches

The problem in numbers:

Ecological impact: New invasion every 9 weeks

Economical impact: Damages of billions USD per year globally

Human health impact: Paralytic shellfish poisoning, Cholera outbreaks

BEMA Cooperation & NGO Activities

In BEMA, we really work together with many NGOs and government agencies to help drive regulation to protect the environment and this is important because when aspirational regulations are created, industry must create technology to meet those aspirational goals, As that technology is implemented across a fleet of vessels that trade globally and worldwide, however, we learn a lot. We must be able to adapt that equipment to those learnings, deciphering the many factors that influencing the performance of ballast water management systems; including challenging water quality.

BEMA cooperates with the regulatory industry by providing technical input to Flag States, Governmental Organizations, and Shipowner Industry Associations, such as:

• International Maritime Organization (IMO)
• United States Coast Guard (USCG)
• US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
• Other International NGOs
  • INTERCARGO, INTERTANKO, MARTECMA

And by working with Flag Administrations to submit papers and develop guidelines for implementing the Ballast Water Management Convention including:

• Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, United Kingdom

Challenging water quality

Since our inception in 2017, BEMA has participated in the submission of many papers to IMO, including:

• Proposed amendments to BWM.2/Circ.62 as a way to address issues being experienced by ships encountering challenging water (MEPC 78/4/3)
• Development of new guidance, accepted at MEPC 81, for ships when encountering CWQ (MEPC.387(81))
• Development of new guidance for the management of ships’ biofouling (MEPC.378(80))
• Continued work with national Administrations and other NGO’s to reach agreed guidance for changes to type approved BWMS; submission planned for MEPC 82, co-sponsored with several delegations.

We continue to work to streamline changes to type approved BWMS. Right now, every system goes through a type of approval process to prove that the system reliably meets the D-2 discharge standard. Over time, though, components of each system become obsolete, and the learnings each manufacturer gains from onboard experience gives them insights on how to improve their system performance. Unfortunately, very simple changes to a BWMS can require hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars’ worth of testing, and that’s just impractical as a manufacturer to be able to conduct these changes in this kind of regulatory environment.

As we have seen in the IMO, there is an increased focus on biofouling, which drives directly into decarbonization targets and CII targets as the microorganisms that sit alongside.  BEMA sees a natural expansion into the hull biofouling cleaning and remediation markets to help both from a biosecurity standpoint and to improve service provider access to the regulatory process during standards development.

Not just ballast water

BEMA has brought in a number of the key players in the biofouling market as members and we are working hard at the IMO to make sure that the lessons from the implementation of ballast water treatment are used to streamline the implementation of hull cleaning. BEMA is currently:

• Representing our members at PPR and in correspondence groups during the development of IMO Guidelines on in-water hull inspection and cleaning
• Tracking new regulatory developments from IMO, USA and national administration and disseminating this information through members-only publications.
• Assisting with the development of international standards intended to assist with implementation and uptake of the guidelines.

But most importantly, BEMA is open to working with everyone who wants to participate in reducing the environmental footprint of shipping. If you want to learn more, feel free to reach out to us via our website, www.BWEMA.org, or to me directly at [email protected].

The views presented are only those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of SAFETY4SEA and are for information sharing and discussion purposes only.

Above article is a transcript from Mark Riggio’s presentation during the 2024 SAFETY4SEA Hamburg Forum with minor edits for clarification purposes.

Explore more by watching the video presentation herebelow