A study on the development of ballast water management-related familiarization training pursuant to the STCW convention

Abstract

The International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments (hereafter “BWM Convention”) will be enforced beginning on September 8, 2017. Even though the STCW Convention (International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers) and other international instruments require all ship personnel be qualified under certain competencies and standards, the International Maritime Organization (hereafter “IMO”) has no unified requirements for training ship personnel on ballast water management. When the BWM Convention enters into force, all officers and crew on board ships should be intimately familiar with the guidelines and procedures outlined by the BWM Convention, regarding, among other topics, proper record keeping techniques and measures, the layout of the ballast control system, methods of ballast water exchange, and inspections by the port state control. To ensure that officers and crew members are adequately familiar, this paper proposes new competency requirements for ballast water management training and education to be added to the STCW Code. To support the introduction of these new competency requirements, this paper explores the evolution of the BWM Convention and examines how international regulations will be used to implement it.