The IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee 71 being held the first week in July will be the last chance to ensure the Ballast Water Convention is implemented when ships undergo their five year special surveys.
That is the view of ballast water manufacturer CEO Andre Marshall of Coldharbour.
In a long statement released ahead of the meeting he states “Some flag states are now actively marketing a decoupling of the special survey from renewal of the International Oil Pollution Prevention Certificate (IOPPC).
This is the point in time that IMO set as the trigger for system installations because the IOPPC renewal normally takes place during a ship’s special survey”.
Decoupling of the two events is a cynical means of enabling ship owners to buy more time, Marshall believes, which flies in the face of the IMO’s intentions.
Marshall believes some flag states are using the IOPPC decoupling process as a means of winning more tonnage from ship operators who wish to delay system installations as long as possible.
“If a two-year postponement is agreed at MEPC 71, and the decoupling process is not stopped, the IMO’s most-delayed convention will have no impact on many ships for possibly another seven years from today,” Marshall observes.
“Ship operators will be restricted in their choice of system to the large corporate manufacturers which have diversified product lines that are revenue generating and thus allow them to simply wait for the sector to come good.”
Fathom-News
