Circular No. 01/2017 was published by the Department of Merchant Shipping (DMS) on the 17th of January 2017 with regards to the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ship’s Ballast Water and Sediments 2004 (the “BWM Convention”). The said Convention will enter into force on 18th January 2017 and therefore all ships under the Cyprus flag to which the Convention applies when calling at ports or terminals of State Parties to the BWM Convention, must comply with the provisions of the BWM Convention and will be required to carry on board a “Class Statement of Compliance” issued by the Recognised Organisation (“RO”) which has issued the class certificate.
After accession of the BWM Convention by the Republic of Cyprus (as the said Convention has not yet been ratified by Cyprus) the Republic shall authorize ROs to perform statutory work on Cyprus flagged ships and any Statement of Compliance will be replaced directly with an “International Ballast Water Management Certificate”, without a survey, and with expiry date no later than the one on the existing Statement of Compliance.
IMO Res.1088 (28) provides that existing ships, constructed before 8 September 2017 will need to comply with either regulation D-1 or D-2. Following their first renewal survey, associated with the International Oil Pollution Prevention Certificate (IOPP) under MARPOL Annex I, ships will have to comply with the ballast water treatment standard D-2. Moreover, each ship shall have on board a Ballast Water record book in accordance with regulation B-2 containing at least the information listed on Appendix II of the Convention.
In addition, ships subject to the Convention, construed on or after 8th September 2017 must comply with the discharge standard specified in Regulation D-2 of the Convention on delivery.
Ballast water management plans will need to be approved by the ROs as compliant with the “Guidelines for Ballast Water Management and Development of Ballast Water Management Plans” (G4), in accordance with the regulation B-1 of the Annex to the Ballast Water Management Convention.
Following the implementation date, ships using a Ballast Water Management System (BWMS) must have a “Type Approval certificate”, in compliance with the IMO 2016 Guidelines For Approval Of Ballast Water Management Systems (G8) as per resolution MEPC.279(70).
Noteworthy is the fact that ships subject to the Convention could be exempted by a Party or Parties when operating in a same risk area and under the conditions described in regulation A-4 of the Convention.
It is noted that where an owner wishes to complete the IOPP renewal survey earlier, then all other statutory renewal surveys must be completed at the same time, including any associated docking survey. Nonetheless, the DMS is willing to accept, on a case by case basis, the earlier completion of the IOPP renewal survey and the de-harmonisation of the aforesaid survey from other surveys, before the 18 January 2018. In such cases, it is strongly recommended that owners / managers reintegrate the IOPP survey into the HSSC system the soonest possible. (The applications for deharmonisation of the IOPP survey should be submitted in writing to the following e-mail address: environment@dms.mcw.gov.cy)