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The new Global Industry Alliance was officially launched earlier this month. (Photo: Globallast.imo.org)
Maritime Alliance to tackle ballast water problems
 WORLDWIDE
Tuesday, March 10, 2009, 15:10 (GMT + 9)
A Global Industry Alliance (GIA) hopes to come up with solutions to tackle the problems caused by the transfer of nuisance species via ship ballast water. The GLA includes APL, BP Shipping, Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, and Vela Marine International.
The GIA was launched on 2 March at the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) London headquarters. Other members include IMO, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF). Other ship operators have also already shown an interest in joining, reports Marine Log.
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Left to right: Katherine Palmer, BP Shipping; Yoh Huat Tey, APL.; Miguel Palomares, Director, Marrine Environment Division, IMO; Efthimios Mitropoulos, Secretary-General, IMO; B.E. Jeong, Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering; Andrew Hudson, UNDP; Ahmed A. Al Babtain, Vela International Marine Limited. (Photo: Globallast.imo.org)
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According to the IMO, an estimated 10 billion tonnes of ballast water are being carried around the globe each year, with over 3,000 species of plants and animals being transferred each day.
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| Global Industry Alliance. (Graph: GIA) |
According to the IMO, an estimated 10 billion tonnes of ballast water are being carried around the globe each year, with over 3,000 species of plants and animals being transferred each day.
Environmental problems have resulted from the introduction of alien aquatic species to new ecosystems that may not be able to deal with them, which is costing the world billions of dollars in damages.
An example of this problem is the introduction of the zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) in the Great Lakes, creating huge costs due to the control and cleaning of underwater structures and pipelines. Another example is the introduction of the comb jelly (Mnemiopsis leidyi) to the Black and Azov Seas, which caused a near extinction of anchovy and sprat fisheries.
A regulatory framework for ballast water management has been developed by the international community, resulting in the adoption by IMO member states in 2004 of the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments. This stipulates that all ships should be equipped with ballast water management systems to meet the ballast water performance standards by 2016.
The GIA will contribute to research and develop cost effective ballast water treatment technologies, to be fitted onboard ships, along with helping to explore new ship design options such as "flow thru" ballast tanks and "ballast-free" ships.
The alliance aims to provide a means for ballast water information exchange in order to promote the transfer of technology within the industry.
A GIA Fund, which will provide the necessary financial resources for the GIA to implement selected projects, was initiated by the agreement signed by GloBallast Partnerships - a joint initiative founded by IMO, UNDP and GEF.
By Michael Loubet
editorial@fis.com
www.fis.com
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