The Convention applies to all ships including submersibles, floating craft, floating platforms, FSUs and FPSOs. However, the Convention does not apply to –

  • ships not designed to carry ballast water;
  • ships not operating in international waters; or
  • warships or other ships owned or operated by a state;

With the exception of floating platforms, FSUs and FPSOs, ships of 400 gross tonnage and above are

required to be surveyed for compliance against the requirements of the Convention and issued with an International Ballast Water Management Certificate.

The convention had two stages of implementation allowing confirmation to D1 and as of November 2020 to D2.

D1 

 D-1 of the Annex sets the Ballast Water Exchange Standard as follows;

  1. Ships performing Ballast Water exchange in accordance with this regulation shall do so

with an efficiency of at least 95 percent volumetric exchange of Ballast Water.

  1. For ships exchanging Ballast Water by the pumping-through method, pumping through

three times the volume of each Ballast Water tank shall be considered to meet the standard Guidance . Described in paragraph 1. Pumping through less than three times the volume may be accepted provided the ship can demonstrate that at least 95 percent volumetric exchange is met.

 

D-2 of the Annex sets the Ballast Water Performance Standard as follows:

Ships conducting Ballast Water Management in accordance with this regulation shall

discharge less than 10 viable organisms per cubic metre greater than or equal to 50 micrometres

in minimum dimension and less than 10 viable organisms per millilitre less than 50 micrometres in

minimum dimension and greater than or equal to 10 micrometres in minimum dimension; and

discharge of the indicator microbes shall not exceed the specified concentrations described in

paragraph 2.

Indicator microbes, as a human health standard, shall include:

Toxicogenic Vibrio cholerae (O1 and O139) with less than 1 colony forming unit (cfu) per

100 millilitres or less than 1 cfu per 1-gram (wet weight) zooplankton samples;

.2 Escherichia coli less than 250 cfu per 100 millilitres;

.3 Intestinal Enterococci less than 100 cfu per 100 millilitres

 

Compliance with the regulation D-2 discharge standard will generally require the installation of an approved ballast
water management system.

 

Ships are required to comply with these discharge standards as follows:
Existing ships are required to comply with regulation D-1 (the Ballast Water Exchange Standard)
no later than 08 September 2017.
Existing ships will also have to comply with regulation D-2 (the Ballast Water Performance
Standard) no later than the first IOPP renewal survey (MARPOL Annex I) after 08 September
2017.
New Builds Ships with a keel laying date after 08 September 2017 are required to comply with regulation D-2 upon delivery.

 

MVM has been involved in numerous projects relating to installation of D2 onboard our managed yachts and ships. For further information please contact MVM technical department.

[email protected]