Complying with ballast water requirements
Background
Marine Protection Rules Part 300 and the Maritime Transport Act 1994 (the MTA) implement the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments (BWM Convention).
The requirements aim to protect New Zealand’s marine environment from harmful organisms and pathogens. These organisms threaten the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity and resources. Once harmful aquatic organisms establish, they can have severe impacts on the environment, property, and resources, and options for control are often limited and ineffective.
Ballast water can also contain pathogens that present a risk to human health.
Which ships Marine Protection Part 300 applies to
Marine Protection Rules Part 300 requirements apply to ships that are:
- designed or constructed to carry ballast water, and
- on an international voyage, which means a journey by water:
- from a port in New Zealand to a port outside New Zealand, or
- from a port outside New Zealand to a port in New Zealand, or
- for a New Zealand ship, between two ports outside New Zealand.
The requirements do not apply to warships or permanent ballast water carried in sealed tanks.
What “designed or constructed to carry ballast water” means
A ship designed or constructed to carry ballast water is a ship designed or constructed to carry water on board to control its stability, including trim, list, draught, or stresses. This includes ships that use multi-use tanks.
A multi-use tank includes, for example:
- fishing ships that use refrigerated sea water (RSW) tanks when on a non-fishing voyage
- other multi-use tanks, such as anti-roll tanks, used for stability including trim, list, draught, or stresses.
Documents you must have on board
Ships whose flag State is a Party to the BWM Convention
Ships whose flag State is a Party to the BWM Convention, including New Zealand ships, must have the following documents on board:
- for ships 400 GT or more, a valid International Ballast Water Management Certificate (IBWMC)
- an approved ballast water management plan
- a ballast water record book.
Ships whose flag State is not a Party to the BWM Convention
Ships whose flag State is not a Party to the BWM Convention must have the following documents on board:
- for ships 400 GT or more, a valid International Ballast Water Management Document (IBWM document). Approach your flag State, or a recognised organisation (RO) working on behalf of your flag State, to survey your ship for this document. Do this well ahead of any planned voyage to New Zealand
- a ballast water management plan
- a ballast water record book.
All of these ships’ ballast water management systems must also have been approved by their administration. This will usually be shown by the IBWMC or IBWM document.
Pleasure craft less than 50 m long with a maximum ballast capacity of 8 cubic metres or less, and any ships specified by the Director, may follow the Director’s guidelines for ballast water management equivalence compliance instead of Part 300.
Do you need to install treatment equipment?
All ships, except those that meet an equivalence under subpart H of Part 300 or that always discharge ballast water to a reception facility, must meet the D-2 performance standard in rule 300.140 by 8 September 2024, unless a convention exclusion applies.
The D-2 standard requires ballast water discharged to sea to be managed in a way that reduces the biosecurity risk to a predetermined level.
Ballast water management to the D-2 standard can be met in different ways. Internationally trading ships usually treat ballast water before discharge to kill or reduce the number and size of viable organisms, or the concentration of pathogens.
Other options to manage ballast water appropriately include:
- using certified potable drinking water as ballast water, and keeping evidence of this
- discharging ballast water to a suitable reception facility on arrival
- relying on a convention exclusion by taking up and discharging ballast water on the high seas, outside 200 NM from the low water mark in New Zealand, and confirming the requirements of any foreign coastal State
- relying on a convention exclusion by taking up and discharging ballast water at the same location
- applying to Maritime NZ for an exemption from the D-2 performance standard to perform exchange to the D-1 standard instead.
If your normal operations do not require you to manage your ballast water, for example if you only operate in waters under the jurisdiction of your flag State, these options can be available for one-off voyages.
Follow the International Maritime Organization guidance BWM.2/Circ.52/Rev.1 when planning a one-off international voyage, and to eliminate any biosecurity risk from remaining sediments.
Regardless of your ballast water management method, or the type of international voyage (for example a one-off voyage), you still need:
- a ballast water management plan that describes the proposed operations and is approved to confirm the operations can be undertaken safely from a stability perspective
- a record book that you use to record ballast water operations, including the position of uptake and discharge
- an approval document, such as an International Ballast Water Management Certificate or ballast water management approval document, after a survey confirms the arrangements on board.
Use certified potable drinking water as ballast water
Potable drinking water from a treated reticulated municipal water supply that is fit for human consumption is one way to meet the D-2 standard.
Obtain a receipt when you load the water on board your ship, as you may need to show evidence that it meets the D-2 performance standard in rule 300.140.
If you have an onboard water maker, you cannot use it to meet the D-2 standard unless your administration has type approved the equipment.
If a New Zealand ship is voyaging to foreign jurisdictions, you should seek approval from the destination State or States before using potable water as ballast.
Discharge ballast water to a suitable reception facility
Rule 300.100(1) allows a ship to discharge its ballast water to a reception facility.
Before you do this, you need confirmation from the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) that the facility is suitable for receiving your ballast water.
Uptake and discharge on the high seas
The BWM Convention, in regulation A-3, treats ballast water uptake and discharge on the high seas as an exception to ballast water management requirements. You still need the documentation listed above.
For New Zealand, the high seas are beyond 200 nautical miles from the low water mark. Other States may define the high seas differently. The operator should confirm requirements with the destination State for the international voyage.
This approach is implemented in New Zealand law through rule 300.21(2).
Uptake and discharge at the same location
The BWM Convention, in regulation A-3, treats ballast water uptake and discharge at the same location as an exception to ballast water management requirements. You still need the documentation listed above.
For New Zealand, the “same location” is described in rule 300.21(3), and rule 300.21(2) allows this approach.
Apply for an exemption
You can apply to Maritime NZ for an exemption from the D-2 performance standard so you can perform exchange to the D-1 standard instead.