Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) 56th session Ð 9Ð13 July 2007

The Ballast Water Management Convention requires that vessels keel laid on or after 1 January 2009 with ballast capacity below 5,000 m3 be fitted with ballast water treatment system when delivered.
The industry will not be able to deliver sufficient number of ballast water treatment systems in order to meet the expected demand for this category of ships.
A delay of 2Ð3 years is therefore stipulated and the final timetable is expected to be decided at the next meeting of the Committee to be held April/March 2008.
The work on the guidelines for recycling and the text of the draft International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships continued. Planned completion is April 2009.
Three different areas concerning air pollution was discussed. On Green House Gas, (GHG), emissions from ships it should be noted that IMO is under considerable pressure from EU and others to make progress in the development of instruments to regulate and handle GHG emissions, but it has been difficult to make the expected progress. EU measures may therefore be developed.
On Guidelines for On-board Exhaust Gas-SOx Cleaning System, the wash water criteria was not completed, but is expected to be completed at an intersessional BLG sub-committee meeting in October/ November 2007 with the view to adopt the Guidelines at MEPC57.
Amendments to the NOx Technical Code is part of the work done on the amendments to Annex VI of MARPOL which is currently in progress and which will continue at the intersessional BLG meeting mentioned above.
Three IACS Unified Interpretations were accepted, covering MARPOL Annex I, regulation 12A and fuel tank piping, the implementation of the new Revised Guidelines on Implementation of Effluent Standards and Performance Tests for Sewage Treatment Plants, and bilge wells in pump room double bottoms on oil tankers.
At the meeting Panama announced that they would ratify the Anti Fouling System (AFS) Convention. This means that the entry into force criteria for the Convention will be met and the Convention will enter into force from 17 September 2008. The AFS Convention requires surveys and an International Certificate for a ship to document compliance.
Karl.Rygh@dnv.com or
Sverre.J.Dahl@dnv.com

Date: 2008-01-30