Maritime Organization (IMO) and provides owners with recommendations that will help them to prepare their ships, ensuring they remain compliant.

“The need to reduce the international merchant fleet’s carbon emissions may have captured all the headlines recently, but the shipping community knows that finding effective solutions for ballast-water management is just as big an environmental challenge for the industry,” said Dr Anne Marie Warris, Environmental Advisor to the Lloyd’s Register Group.

“With the ballast-water convention awaiting ratification, ship-owners and managers are working hard to determine the consequences for their ships – including the associated costs – and whether the skills of their crews will need to be upgraded to effectively and safely operate any new equipment and technology.”

The IMO in 2004 presented the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments (BWM Convention) to regulate the discharges of ballast water and reduce the risk of introducing non-native species to the world's waterways.Once ratified by the required number of states, which represent a predetermined proportion of the merchant fleet, the convention will require ballast-water treatment to be used instead of ballast-water exchanges. This requirement will be phased in.The BWM Convention will apply to all ships trading internationally that carry ballast water, with a few exceptions and in accordance with specific territorial requirements.The BWM Convention will come into force 12 months after at least 30 states (the combined merchant fleet of which must constitute at least 35% of the gross tonnage of the world’s merchant shipping fleet) have ratified it. To date, it has been ratified by 26 states constituting 24% of the merchant fleet.The Lloyd’s Register Group provides independent assurance to companies operating high-risk, capital-intensive assets in the energy and transportation sectors. We enhance the safety of life, property and the environment by helping our clients to ensure the quality construction and operation of critical infrastructure. The Group comprises charities and non-charitable entities, with the latter supporting the charities in their main goal.