INTERTANKO is opening its Ports with Challenging Water Quality Database to non-members in a bid to increase understanding of the issues that ballast water management systems are facing.
Any shipowner can now contribute to the results by submitting their own reports.
The database is designed to support vessels calling at ports that cause ballast water management systems (BWMS) to run sub-optimally due to challenging water quality conditions when taking on ballast.
The database is anticipated to aid ships in their due diligence and voyage planning preparation and facilitate communication with both port State control (PSC) authorities and flag administrations.
“We are asking all owners to get involved,” says INTERTANKO’s Will Sturdy as “this tool can help to clear the muddy waters in ballast water management operation and enforcement in ports with challenging water quality. Increasing the dataset will also allow the industry and regulators to get a clearer picture of the scale of the problem and allow better decision making onboard and at the port.”
The tool is intended to support compliance with the D-2 discharge standard by allowing ships to better prepare for ports with challenging water quality situations and to implement solutions before the next port of call. The data can be used to supplement information essential to both port state authorities and flag administrations when considering effective alternative compliance arrangements on the next voyage. Addressing such factors as these, and the resulting solutions, should enable much smoother, and environmentally safe, discharge of ballast water taken from ports with challenging water quality, says INTERTANKO.