Page 10: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (April 2017)

ON POINT WITH JOE KEEFE

A A ‘Sample’ of ‘Sample’ of

What’s NextWhat’s Next

BWTBWT

Having just returned from the 4th Annual Ballast Water Manage- ment Summit held in Long Beach, CA, I’m completely up to speed on the complex topic of ballast water management systems, treat- ment and the regulatory quagmire represented by the IMO, U.S.

Coast Guard, the EPA and 16 other U.S. states that have their own

Balkanized idea of what this should entail. I can’t believe I’ve been obsessing over this topic since 2003. By Joseph Keefe ime does ? y when you are proval. For U.S. yards, sadly, the INTEL vetting, condition surveys, draft surveys, good times had by all, I assure you. And, having fun. In the ? rst quarter from the conference was that virtually ISPS surveys, and yes, cargo surveys. I do have a point. Bear with me.

of 2017, it is nice to see that anyone with a blue water, Jones Act hull We did some bulk cargoes and offbeat we’ve moved along expedi- needing BWT retro? ts was either ? eeing stuff, but ours was mostly a petroleum, A Sample … of What to Expect

T tiously towards a ? nal solution. And (or getting ready) to an Asian drydock tanker based out? t. And, we performed What does any of the foregoing have that’s just we’re doing, apparently – for a cheaper price. But, I’m veering off a lot of cargo oversight, expediting and to do with ballast water? As it turns out, moving briskly right along. The rati? ca- course again. in general, making sure our principal’s plenty. Eventually, all these vessels will tion of the IMO ballast water convention That’s all assuming that the OEM’s interests were attended to during marine have these BWT systems installed and has been followed in short order by the themselves can ramp up quickly to pro- custody transfers. Often, this involved everyone will sail off into the horizon

U.S. Coast Guard’s approval of not one, duce the necessary hardware in quantity. loss control work, supervising cargo and trade happily ever after. That is, un- but three OEM BWT systems. A fourth A good engineer and/or naval architect measurement and other unpleasant tasks, til they arrive back in San Francisco Bay is in the pipeline. A new bill inching will tell you that ship operators ought to typically at 3 a.m. in the morning while and are then asked to deliver ballast wa- its way through the federal legislative be planning now for the big event, some- swatting mosquitoes large enough to car- ter samples to the local authorities. Or, process – the so-called C VIDA bill – thing which can take up to six months ry away small children and pets. perhaps, it is time to check the sample promises to unite all domestic regulatory to put all the pieces into place. And yet, What you discover very quickly, as box on your VGP declaration. It is at this oversight into a single entity. Separately, talk at the conference often came back to you gain experience, is that the quality point that all bets are off. That’s because and according to ABS Regional VP Mi- the topic of how one might obtain or ap- of the cargo being delivered or received your device may be working just ? ne, chael Michaud, it is possible if not very ply for an extension from the U.S. Coast is every bit as important – if not far more but if the samples being delivered don’t likely that as many as 12 BWT systems Guard – something apparently, many important – than the quantity or volume re? ect that reality, then you could be in in total could be approved by the end of owners have been doing as a regular that is measured. Sure, call your trader a world of trouble. For example, imag- the year. event. Consensus at the show was that, at 4 a.m. to let him know that you were ine being ‘long’ on 30,000 metric tons

So, it’s all good, right? Not so fast. The looking at the three systems already ap- 0.75% short on volume on a one million of ballast water that no port will let you ? urry of activity has spawned a whole proved and with as many as nine more barrel crude cargo, and you’d get an ear- discharge.

new raft of issues, not the least of which looming large in the proverbial porthole, ful. On the other hand, it was never ideal Traveling back in time (just once more, will involve ? nding dry dock space and the nation’s ? fth uniformed service was to have a fuel oil cargo whose sulphur I promise) to my petroleum days, the one availability to get the BWT equipment about to get a lot more stingy with any content was too high or perhaps, sedi- thing that I always kept a close eye on retro? tted. Sure – and as it was opined approvals for delay. In other words, you ment and water (S&W) content ‘out of when quality was a key metric in the car- at the BWT conference – the ? gure of better have a compelling reason for that spec.’ Suddenly, your principal might go transaction, was (a.) who was doing 60,000 hulls is probably high, but you delay. be faced with having to renegotiate the the sampling, and (b.) how that sampling can bet that, as a minimum, tens of thou- price of the parcel, or worse – face rejec- was being accomplished. That’s because sands of vessels will be queuing for the Long Ago and Far Away: tion of the delivery altogether. No one, the typical third party inspection ? rm in equipment that will put them into com- A Parallel Universe apparently, wants to be ‘long’ on a large the late 1980’s would, more often than pliance. I’m told that the prices of ap- It seems like just yesterday that, in my parcel of petroleum on a tanker that just not, send the most junior person in the proved systems are now predictably (and previous life after involuntarily coming missed its next laycan because the cur- company on deck to perform what was signi? cantly) higher than the ones not ashore, I spent many years as a marine rent charterer can’t ? nd a buyer for his easily one of the nastiest (and ironically, yet boasting of a Coast Guard seal of ap- consultant. That involved a lot of things – suddenly unwanted cargo. These were the most critical) jobs on the planet. That 10 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • APRIL 2017

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