Ballast Water Treatment System (BWTS) Update

The Club would like to remind all Members and industry stakeholders to proactively start preparations for the BWTS installations if they have not already been scheduled.

The individual vessel compliance dates for installing approved BWTS are tied to the first renewal date of their International Oil Pollution Prevention (IOPP) survey carried out after 19 September 2019. This year, 2022, will be a peak season for BWTS installations, according to the leading classification society, DNV¹. They have projected that about 30% of the vessels on international voyages will reach their mandatory compliance dates in 2022. After that, installations will continue until 2024, by when the entire global seagoing fleet on international voyages must be compliant.

Commissioning testing

Commissioning testing validates the installation of the BWTS and demonstrates its mechanical, physical, chemical, and biological processes are working correctly. Commissioning testing by sampling will be required from 1 June 2022 onwards. This will require ballast water samples to be collected at the discharge line after being treated by the newly installed BWTS. The samples will need to be analysed at an accepted laboratory. There may also be additional flag state specific requirements of which to take note. Some flag states have already accepted early implementation and mandated compliance testing after the BWTS installation, thus successful compliance testing should be agreed upon for systems installed from 1 June 2022 onwards and stated in the contracts with the BWTS manufacturer.