Resolution
MEPC.153(55)
GUIDELINES FOR BALLAST WATER RECEPTION FACILITIES (G5)
(Adopted on 13 October 2006)
THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION COMMITTEE,
RECALLING Article 38(a) of the Convention on the
International Maritime Organization concerning the functions of the Marine
Environment Protection Committee conferred upon it by the international
conventions for the prevention and control of marine pollution,
RECALLING ALSO that the International Conference on
Ballast Water Management for Ships held in February 2004 adopted the
International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water
and Sediments, 2004 (the Ballast Water Management Convention) together with
four Conference resolutions,
NOTING that Regulation A-2 of the Ballast Water
Management Convention requires that discharge of ballast water shall only be
conducted through Ballast Water Management in accordance with the provisions of
the Annex to the Convention,
NOTING FURTHER that Regulation B-3.6 of the Ballast
Water Management Convention provides that, the requirements of ballast water
management standards do not apply to ships that discharge ballast water to a
reception facility designed taking into account the Guidelines developed by the
Organization for such facilities,
NOTING ALSO that resolution 1 adopted by the
International Conference on Ballast Water Management for Ships invited the
Organization to develop these Guidelines as a matter of urgency,
HAVING CONSIDERED, at its fifty-fifth session, the
draft the Guidelines for ballast water reception facilities (G5) developed by
the Ballast Water Working Group, and the recommendation made by the
Sub-Committee on Flag State Implementation at its fourteenth session,
1. ADOPTS the Guidelines for ballast water reception
facilities (G5) as set out in the Annex to this resolution;
2. INVITES Governments to apply these Guidelines as
soon as possible, or when the Convention becomes applicable to them; and
3. AGREES to keep these Guidelines under review.
Annex.
GUIDELINES FOR BALLAST WATER RECEPTION FACILITIES (G5)
1.1 The purpose of these guidelines is to provide
guidance for the provision of facilities for the reception of ballast water as
referred to in Regulation B-3.6 of the Convention. These guidelines are not
intended to require that a Party shall provide such facilities. The guidance is
also intended to encourage a worldwide uniform interface between such
facilities and the ships without prescribing dedicated shoreside reception
plants.
1.2 These guidelines apply to ballast water
reception facilities referred to in the International Convention for the
Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments (the Convention),
Regulation B-3.6.
1.3 These guidelines do not apply to reception
facilities for sediment referred to in Article 5 and Regulation B-5 of the
Convention.
2.1 For the purposes of these guidelines, the
definitions in Article 1 and Regulation A-1 of the Convention apply.
3. GENERAL
REQUIREMENTS FOR BALLAST WATER RECEPTION FACILITIES
3.1 A ballast water reception facility should be
capable of receiving ballast water from ships so as not to create a risk to the
environment, human health, property and resources arising from the release to
the environment of Harmful Aquatic Organisms and Pathogens. A facility should
provide pipelines, manifolds, reducers, equipment and other resources to
enable, as far as practicable, all ships wishing to discharge ballast water in
a port to use the facility. The facility should provide adequate equipment for
mooring ships using the facility and when applicable safe anchorage.
3.2 Each Party shall report to the Organization and,
where appropriate, make available to other Parties, information on the
availability and location of any reception facilities for the environmentally
safe disposal of ballast water.
4. PROVISION OF
BALLAST WATER RECEPTION FACILITIES
4.1 When considering the requirements of these
facilities many factors will have to be taken into account, these should
include but not be limited to:
.1
regional, national and local legislation which will affect the facility and
related to the items below;
.2
site selection;
.3
ship type and size that will use the facility;
.4
ship configurations;
.5
mooring requirements;
.6
handling of ballast water;
.7
sampling, testing and analysis of ballast water;
.8
storage and of conditions of ballast water;
.9
environmental benefits and costs;
.10
proximity of available sites to local ports;
.11
effect on the environment in construction and operation of the facility;
.12
training of facility staff;
.13
human health;
.14
safety;
.15
maintenance;
.16
operational limitations;
.17
waterway access, approaches and traffic management; and
.18
the amount of ballast water likely to be received.
5. TREATMENT AND
DISPOSAL OF RECEIVED BALLAST
5.1 Disposal of ballast water from a reception
facility should not create a risk to the environment, human health, property
and resources arising from the release or transfer to the environment of
Harmful Aquatic Organisms and Pathogens.
5.2 Treatment methods applied to the ballast water
should not produce effects that may create a risk to the environment, human
health, property and resources.
5.3 Where ballast water is disposed into the aquatic
environment it should at least meet the ballast water performance standard
specified in Regulation D-2 of the Convention. Disposal to other environments
should be to a standard acceptable to the Port State. Such a standard should
not create a risk to the environment, human health, property and resources
arising from the release or transfer to the environment of Harmful Aquatic
Organisms and Pathogens.
6.1 Ballast water discharged from a ship should be
accepted by the ballast water reception facility including its suspended
matter.
7. CAPABILITIES OF A
RECEPTION FACILITY
7.1 Details of the capabilities and any capacity
limitations of a treatment facility should be made available to the ships that
intend to use the facility.
7.2 The details made available to ships should
include but not be limited to:
.1
maximum volumetric capacity of ballast water;
.2
maximum volume of ballast water that can be handled at any one time;
.3
maximum transfer rates of ballast water (cubic metres per hour);
.4
hours of operation;