Tokyo and Paris MOUs plan BWM crack down

Photo: Paris MOU

The member port state control authorities of the Tokyo and the Paris Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) on Port State Control are to launch a joint Concentrated Inspection Campaign (CIC) on Ballast Water Management (BWM).

The BWM inspection campaign will be held for three months, commencing September 1, 2025 and ending November 30, 2025. A ship will be subject to only one inspection under this CIC during the period of the campaign.

The Tokyo MOU is one of the most active regional port state control (PSC) organizations in the world. It has 22 member authorities in the Asia-Pacific region. The mainly European-focused Paris MOU currently has 28 nations, including Canada among its member authorities. The Russian Federation is currently suspended until further notice.

The purpose of the campaign is to determine if ships meet the mandatory requirements for Ballast Water Management (BWM) as prescribed in the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments, 2004 (BWM Convention). This 2025 campaign has been initiated in order to promote the effective and consistent implementation of the BWM Convention.

In order to determine if ships meet the requirements of the convention, the following areas will be verified during inspections:

• Proper certification for BWM Convention;
• Approval and update of the Ballast Water Management Plan (BWMP);
• Crew familiarisation in the implementation of the BWMP;
• Ballast Water Management System approval and its operation;
• Records of Ballast Water Record Book (BWRB);
• Ballast water sediment management; and
• Valid exemptions, if any.

The inspection campaign will be held for three months, commencing from 1 September 2025 and ending 30 November 2025. A ship will be subject to only one inspection under this CIC during the period of the campaign.

Port state control officers will use a pre-defined questionnaire to assess that the BWM requirements in the respective areas are met.

If any non-conformities are found, actions by the port state may vary from recording a deficiency and instructing the master to rectify it within a certain period of time, to detaining the ship until the serious deficiencies have been rectified. Inspection results will be published on the websites of the Tokyo and Paris MoU.

The results of the campaign will be analyzed and findings will be presented to the governing bodies of both MoUs for possible submission to the International Maritime Organization.