Shipping association BIMCO submitted a paper to MEPC 76 seeking clarification of the existing IMO guidance on interpreting records in the ballast water record book (BWRB)
Currently, ships’ crews are being presented with conflicting interpretations of the various entries in BWRB by administrations, class societies, port state control authorities and third-party auditors.
Due to conflicting interpretation of the records by external parties, crews are faced with a dilemma when filling out the information in the BWRB.
By comparison, BIMCO said the oil record book under Marpol follows a strict coding system, making it less prone to different interpretations and as the BWRB does not have such a coding system, crew often encounter conflicting interpretations for items such as:
The Ballast Water Management Convention is still in an ’experience building phase’ (EBP) which allows member states and ships to gather experience and analysis of the implementation, and, if required, review and amend the Convention.
At the upcoming MEPC 76 on 10 June 2021, this EBP is expected to move from experience gathering stage to analysis stage. BIMCO said the submitted paper is based on gathered experience by the industry and will be used to analyse and review the BWM Convention, especially Appendix II – Form of the BWRB.
BIMCO commentary on the entries in the BWRB can be accessed on BIMCO’s website.
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