How Data and Analysis Help Shipowners Understand Ballast-Water Best Practices
As the one-year anniversary of the Ballast Water Management Convention enforcement date approaches, anecdotal evidence reveals that much still needs to be done before the regulation can be deemed successful at stopping the spread of invasive species around the world.
This scenario was not unexpected by the framers of the convention, which is why the International Maritime Organization (IMO) built an Experience Building Phase (EBP) into the regulation, to hopefully work out the bugs.
The EBP, which is voluntary, consists of a data-gathering stage, a data-analysis stage, and a convention-review stage. This phase began when the convention entered into force on 8 September 2017 and will end with a package of priority amendments based on the data analysis entered into force, which is anticipated to occur in 2022.
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“I think most of the systems anticipate a six-month resupply, but if for some reason equipment is used more than anticipated, a shipowner may need to be resupplied in three months, so there’s a question of whether there’s a network in place that has the flexibility to respond to those needs,” Jeanne Grasso, a partner and ballast-water regulation specialist at the law firm Blank Rome, told Fairplay.
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“How Data and Analysis Help Shipowners Understand Ballast-Water Best Practices,” by John Gallagher was published in Fairplay on September 3, 2018.