Shipowners have been given a two-year reprieve on the retrofitting of ballast water treatment systems as the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) has decided to delay the implementation of the convention until 2019.
With the imminent entry into force of the international Ballast Water Management (BWM) Convention on 8 September 2017, IMO’s MEPC at its 71st meeting last week reached an anticipated compromise agreement on pushing back the regulatory enforcement date.
Ships constructed after 8 September 2017 must still comply on delivery from the yard, but existing ships in general must comply by the first International Oil Pollution Prevention (IOPP) certificate renewal after 8 September 2019.
It was also agreed at MEPC 71 that a ship to which the IOPP renewal survey does not apply (generally ships less than 400 gross tonnes in size) need to comply with the BWM Convention no later than 8 September 2024, pointing to full global implementation by then.
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