Water Ballast Convention will impact international shipping
A leading London broking house warns The IMO's Water Ballast Convention (WBC) impact on shipping will be enormous, particularly for tankers, a leading London broking house has warned.For example, Wartsila Water Solutions recently said that fitting a VLCC with the required equipment 'can currently put an owner back as much as $8 mill' and further stated that the technology is relatively untested.Another problem will be the huge number of tankers (and indeed other vessel types), which will need systems installed, Gibson Research said in its latest weekly report.The International Chamber of Shipping has suggested that over 20 vessels per day will need to have systems installed to meet the convention, which will require all ships be fitted with ballast water management systems by mid-2017.According to one major class society, at present there are only 17 approved BWT systems on the market and concerns have also been raised about the availability of equipment for ships with large ballast water requirements.The new regulations will also generate an enormous amount of work for shiprepair yards as owners jostle for slots tied into their class survey dates.Given the recent trading conditions, the rapid fall in asset values and spiralling bunker prices, early implementation of ...
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