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Figure 4. Ballast Water Liability and Enforcement: Possible Players
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Shipowners and Operators
Charterers and Cargo Owners
Masters
P&I Clubs
Other Marine and Specialty Insurers
Classification Societies (IACS)
Flag States and Open Registries (“flags of convenience”)
IMO
National enforcement (USCG, EPA)
State enforcement (i.e., California, Great Lakes states)
Individual Ports
Trade associations, i.e., Intertanko
Databases for tracking compliance (i.e., Globallast, Equasis, NBIC)
Role of Classification Societies
Classification societies are likely to have a significant inspection role in implementing the
regulations, particularly through enforcement of the flag-state and IMO requirements. Similar to
the P&I club discussion above, most classification societies belong to the International
Association of Classification Societies (IACS) which helps eliminate the advantages of ship
owners shifting between Societies to avoid regulations. The largest class societies form a more
stringent group, colloquially known as “Super IACS”, which insures that calls for strict
compliance with international standards are uniformly applied across the IACS members.
Regardless of which entity has inspection responsibility, the addition of ballast water treatment
technology inspections potentially compounds a problem at times for ship crew distracted by
multiple inspections (from insurers, classification societies, ports, etc.).
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Another open question
is the extent to which state and national regulators will be sufficiently staffed to handle
inspection regimes that would be required. Sensor technologies may provide the answer to that
question.
Flag States will play an important role as well. With open registries (“flags of convenience”)
financially dependent on foreign ships registering under their flags, they have little incentive to
enforce pollution regulations. Similarly, individual ports, even within nations, compete with one
another for shipping business. This also may affect their willingness to enforce new ballast
water regulations
Trade Associations
Trade associations, i.e., Intertanko, have a possible role in helping members decide which
technology to use. With regard to enforcement questions, their members will simply want to
know about the easiest way to be in compliance.