29 March 2019
Applicability: Shipowners, ship operators, ship managers, designers and shipbuilders
Amendments and resolutions relating to the International Maritime Organisation’s Ballast Water Management (BWM) Convention may affect ship survey and type approval work.
Be aware of the following changes, adopted by the IMO’s Maritime Environment Protection Committee during its 72nd session (MEPC 72):
- Amendments to regulation B-3 – Implementation of D-2 standard to existing ships (Resolutions MEPC.297(72) and MEPC.298(72))
MEPC 72 formalised the decision taken at MEPC 71. Please refer to Class News 16/2017
- Amendment to Regulations E-1 and E-5 of the BWM Convention (Resolution MEPC.299(72))
There is no substantial change to the decision taken by MEPC 71.
Regulation E-1 was amended to clarify that Additional surveys do not need an endorsement on the IBWM Certificate. Regulation E-5 was amended to clarify that the schedule of Annual surveys also applies to Intermediate surveys.
Ships may keep the text of the resolution on board in case a question is raised during a Port State Control (PSC) inspection.
- BWM.2/Circ.66/Rev.1 – Unified interpretation relating to the International Ballast Water Management Certificate
This clarifies the “date installed” of a D-2 compliant ballast water management system (BWMS) in relation to the date on the certificate (commissioning date) and the dates for application of the type approval guidelines (G8 and BWMS Code). It is therefore important for shipowners:
- To keep contract (order) and delivery note of the BWMS onboard
- To keep this circular on board, in case a question is raised during a PSC inspection.
- Resolution MEPC.296(72) and MEPC.300(72) – Introduction of Ballast Water Management Systems (BWMS) Code
No substantial change in technical contents compared to the ‘2016 Guidelines for Approval of Ballast Water Management Systems (G8)’ (MEPC.279(70)), just the transition from ‘guidelines’ to a mandatory code. We will advise the details of this in a separate Class News.
This revision substantially impacts type approval work, as it now requires identifying the most vulnerable model in undertaking the scale model test.
The circular was updated due to the introduction of the BWMS Code.
Link to useful IMO reference document:
Guidelines and guidance documents related to the implementation of BWM Convention
For further information:
Contact your local Lloyd’s Register office or statutorysupport@lr.org