IMO head calls for focus on ballast water
Koji Sekimizu, secretary-general of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), called on ship owners to support regulation of ships' ballast water at a keynote address to the International Chamber of Shipping.
"The problems associated with ballast water are inherently connected to the expansion of world trade," Sekimizu said.
"This is an issue from which the shipping industry cannot escape."
The International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments, 2004 (Ballast Water Management Convention) is intended to address invasive species in ballast water, which has been identified as one of the four biggest threats to the world's oceans, according to the IMO.
"Ballast water stowaways," including bacteria, invertebrates, and the eggs and larvae of larger creatures, may disrupt an area's native ecology, create costly disruptions to fisheries and other coastal industries and threaten human health, the IMO says.
Thirty-six states, most recently Denmark, have ratified the convention, but the rules cannot go into force until the current 21 percent of the world's merchant shipping tonnage represented by signatories rises to 35 percent.
Arguing that good ballast water treatment technology is now approved and easily available, Sekimizu called on ship owners to push their nations to adopt the convention, and also suggested they implement its provisions voluntarily.
Sekimizu also called for the shipping industry to adopt energy efficiency measures passed by IMO without waiting for them to formally come into force.