With full ratification of the Ballast Water Management (BWM) Convention imminent, the timing of the 3rd IMarEST Ballast Water Technology Conference is ideal, for it takes place in London on 27 and 28 March, just days before MEPC 66 is held at IMO the following week. It is a topic that is also the subject of a special 5-page article ‘Ballast buy-in’ in the February issue of IMarEST’s ‘MER – Marine Engineers Review’.
With its theme ‘Looking Beyond Ratification, Dealing with the Remaining Challenges’ the IMarEST conference will provide the timely technical and scientific information needed by fleet managers, shipowners and flag and port state control agencies enabling them to rise to the remaining scientific and engineering BWM challenges.
“This is truly an event organised by the industry for the industry,” says Tom Mackey FIMarEST, Senior Consultant, Hyde Marine Inc and Co-Chairman, IMarEST Ballast Water Expert Group, who will be chairing the two-day conference. “The organisers of the IMarEST Ballast Water Conference are engineers and scientists deeply involved with the development of the IMO BWM Convention and the US Ballast Water Regulations.
“Indeed, IMarEST and its members are uniquely qualified to deal with the full range of ballast water challenges facing the shipping industry, based as they are both in science and engineering. For this reason the conferences in this series have gained a strong reputation. This year’s event will build on that reputation and provide vital information to help decision makers not only understand the challenges, but find the solutions.”
“Tom Mackey really has hit the nail on the head,” says IMarEST’s Chief Executive David Loosley. “Our members are the prime movers in our conferences, identifying topics and themes ensuring they address topical issues in a highly relevant way; we are extremely grateful for their enthusiasm and commitment.“
The conference day by day
Following a welcome from Andreas Chrysostomou FIMarEST, IMarEST President; Head of Maritime Policy, Department of Merchant Shipping, Cyprus; Immediate Past Chairman, Marine Environment Protection Committee, IMO, and the introduction by Tom Mackey there are two keynote addresses on the first day of the conference.
The first on ‘IMO progress and remaining challenges’ by Arsenio A. Dominguez, Alternate Representative and Technical Adviser, Permanent Mission of Panama to IMO; 2014 Chairman, Marine Environment Protection Committee, IMO. And, the second by Dr David Wright FIMarEST, Professor Emeritus, University of Maryland and President, Environmental Research Services; Co-Chairman, IMarEST Ballast Water Expert Group who takes ‘Looking forward to post ratification: Establishing benchmarks in compliance testing by Port State Control’ as his topic.
The first morning continues a session on ‘Regulation and Enforcement’ with a joint presentation on ‘US Regulations and USCG Type Approval’; ‘Status of the IMO BWM Convention’; ‘Current thoughts after ten years on the BWC’; and a panel discussion ‘What still needs to be fixed with the Convention?’.
Following a networking lunch, ‘Regulation and Enforcement’ remains the theme with a panel discussion on ‘Sampling and analysis for compliance and enforcement’, presentations on ‘What is the UV testing challenge under the ETV protocol? What is the current status and the way forward?’ and ‘A scientific review of issues associated with test methods for UV ballast treatment’; and a panel on ‘The UV testing challenge and the availability of USCG accepted facilities’.
The final session of the day looks at ‘Overcoming the Challenges’ with presentations on ‘Ballast water risk management and mitigation’; ‘GloBalTestNet: the need for transparency and harmonization of the testing process for both IMO and the USCG’; ‘Risk assessment based exemptions from ballast water management requirements’; and a technology panel.
The day ends with the Conference Reception at One Great George Street.
Day Two
Howard Fireman, Vice President, ABS will get the second day off to a flying start with his keynote address ‘The Role of Class in BWM’. This is followed by ‘Should IACS move to a uniform approach?’; a Class Panel; ‘BWT by acoustic means – views on environmental acceptability’; Intercomparison of viability methods: Is there one method?’; ‘Is there an alternative to the shipboard treatment of ballast water?’; and a joint presentation on ‘The Retrofit Challenge’ before the networking lunch.
The afternoon starts with ‘The Role of IMO-GloBallast’, continues with an owners and operators panel; and concludes with ‘How should shipping deal with the remaining challenges’.
Source: IMarEST
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