Trends in Compliance Monitoring Devices (CMDs) in Ships’ Ballast Water Treatment Systems

Abstract

The International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments (BWM Convention) in 2024, gives us at least 7 years of data to analyze accounting for technology samples in marine and ships’ ballast water monitoring and forecasting. Marine technology played a crucial role in closing the gap between the adoption of the Convention and its coming into force, a 13-year gap that involved world-wide experimentation and investment in marine technologies which had to be approved for compliance by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) as well as Port States. Compliance Monitoring Devices (CMDs) with rapid results have been generally used in providing marine environmental invasion controls and have been used by Port States to enforce compliance in ballast water management. Qualitative, regulatory and quantitative data have been synthesized in this study from select experiments to test for compliance monitoring success. Going forward, rapid result devices will remain ideal in ship and port time management, particularly with a move towards electronic ballast water record books which also serve as an important forecasting tool for compliance as such data can be pre-delivered to the electronic records of the Port State for reaction prior to ship arrival, that way major issues can be dealt with while the ship is en voyage, for pre-emptive national security measures.

1. Introduction

The International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments (BWM Convention) was initially adopted after a myriad of efforts by the unity of many governments under the auspices of the United Nations, IMO agency [1] because of the threatening impact from marine aquatic invasions or aquatic invasive species (AIS) and other organisms that were being introduced into many foreign ports through ships’ ballast water tanks. Commercial shipping, particularly prior to modern ballast treatment technology, was identified as a direct vector to introducing AIS. In a recent study where scientists measured the pressure of propagule of AIS, data were collected especially from volumes of discharges of ballast water as it was established that AIS could come through ballast water discharges from foreign regions, some AIS could come from resting egg states of various organisms that may rest in the ship’s sediment at the bottom of the ballast tanks or that AIS could be a result of bio-fouling on wetted areas of the ship’s hull that has AIS clinging to its surfaces. While their experiment also observed that some AIS may not survive the stress of the voyage, those that do survive and thrive may threaten the marine environment by depleting fisheries, causing a loss of biodiversity and impacting resources that have direct influence on human health and the economies affected [2] Ballast water contaminants are not limited to living species only, there are also concerns that ballast water may also cause an introduction of, for instance, heavy metals into the environment which can have a harmful effect on the quality of water resources [3].

The dangers of unchecked ballast water being transported around the world resulted in the adoption of the BWM on 13 February 2004 and its subsequent date of global force application on 8 September 2017 [4]. This study serves to test a few examples of marine technologies that have since been used to manage the monitoring and possibly forecasting of ballast water management and other marine aquatic anti-fouling and anti-pollution devices that have been at the forefront since the adoption of the BWM Convention. Not only does the Convention require a ballast water record book record (BWRB) from a compliant ship, but those compliance strategies must be monitored for proof and record of compliance. The BWM Convention has had more clarifications and updates that require a strong reliance on marine technologies, for example, the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 82) held a session on 30 September to 4 October 2024 which pushed for better ballast record book-keeping, as it was proving to be one of the challenges in ballast water management on board ships, and resulted in new regulations. As of 1 February 2025, ensuring that electronic records on ballast water management are kept will also require compliance [5].

1.1. Ballast Water and Ship Safety

A ship’s ballast water practice must also be given the appropriate consideration as an established practice; ballast water on a ship maintains safe shipping and provides ease of maneuverability for the ship. Ballast water is so related to ship safety that errors in incorrect ballast water calculations management could lead to a ship grounding or sinking, as was reported in the case of the ship that listed and grounded just off the coast of the State of Georgia, the MV Golden Ray, a pure car and truck carrier [6] (p. 46).

1.2. Ballast Water Monitoring as a Tool for Compliance

The parameter of this study is restricted to a few select technological applications in the form of some Compliance Monitoring Devices (CMDs) [7], experiments from scientists who have collected quantitative data on four methods of ballast water monitoring where their findings show challenges in achieving compliance on UV ballast treatment systems, with some technologies also briefly mentioned [8]. It must be noted that there are many excellent inventions and patents that could be discussed under this topic such as a recent patent granted by the Chinese Government to a marine tech entity, Nanjing Yijinuo Environmental Protection, which invented a utility model providing a rapid monitoring device for ballast water, related to the technical field of ballast water monitoring, providing a more reliable, rapid, effective, standardized and portable device and an enrichment device for entry and exit inspection and quarantine departments [9]. There are also green ballast water technologies invented to lower the carbon footprint created by the treatment of millions of gallons of ballast water only to be discharged and so recycling and reusing treated water, which can help with forecasting the environmental safety of the water previously used in ballast tanks [10]. These examples of ballast water monitoring technologies are an illustration of the advancement of marine environmental protection which can only advance with appropriate technologies but since we cannot discuss them all in detail, this study will sample random select examples to study and understand some concerns with the current monitoring practices.

This study will touch on the rapid results from automated remote ballast water monitoring devices whose application is crucial in certain geographical locations [11]. These technologies validate a result that shows that marine technology investment is the sustaining force in marine environmental protection and furthermore, that, though there may be challenges in the use of some CMDs, it is still ideal for Port States to ensure compliance with the BWM Convention using a few samples of devices for rapid and reliable results for voyage planning as part of marine water technology forecasting, which can only be enhanced by electronic record keeping. Under the new regime, electronic records are easier to input, place on record and, where necessary, amend without having to amend the entire ballast water management plan of the ship first, which means that shortcomings in the system can be addressed as soon as they are monitored and recorded [1,11]. The legal authority approving the use of those devices is the contextual foundation of this study to provide precision on the ability of nations to apply the relevant international law in marine pollution, aquatic invasions and other preventative measures.

1.3. Contribution of Study and Research Method

Considering the aforementioned potential environmental and economic damage that a bio-invasion (or any other catastrophic environmental destabilization) may unleash, it is essential that government administrations of different nations continue to build a network of preventative measures that ensure that ballast water moved around international waters measures up to agreed international regulation. When protecting the environment, all threats are essential to monitor and react to; for example, the destruction of homes by wild-fires in the East Coast, although it was a land natural disaster due to wind speeds, there is a questioning of whether or not overregulation and other disaster readiness of the policies of the State were to blame for the devastation in an investigation by the House Committee of the USA [12]. The land fire example is used as an illustration here to show how important it is to work towards disaster management on all fronts, in every nation. All potential environmental threats matter greatly; however, this paper limits its emphasis to ballast water monitoring as the primary focus. Much more data from scientists offers us a chance to consider how successful ballast water laws and the technology that supports it has fared since adoption in recent years.

Current ballast water management requires a special focus on monitoring methods which are a primary tool and especially useful for preventing any further bio-invasions, which are known for their disastrous consequences. Let us consider, for example, the destruction of the fishing stocks in the Caspian Sea due to jellyfish that were introduced to that environment by the ballast water tanks of ships [13]. The Caspian Sea continues to be monitored by the scientific community, providing rich statistical lessons of ocean and sea health; however, with retrospective insight today, it is now understood that much more could have been accomplished if the invasion was altogether prevented through early detection and reactions to marine threats. However, ballast water technology was not up to today’s standards when this disaster occurred in the 1990s, Supplementary Material in the form of a documentary can be referred to on this topic [13] (p. 2).

Compliance methods are technologies that are new to the shipping community and this paper tests their effectiveness while also highlighting the new electronic ballast water books which a ship must have. In a unique approach, this paper will provide ship managers with the latest ballast water requirements, which involve electronic data sharing, thus allowing ships to prepare for and invest in the latest compliance support technologies in the area of ballast water monitoring, reporting and marine environmental protection. With regard to sharing data, each ship must of course also make plans for cyber security, preventing confidential data breaches while fighting bio-invasions.

This paper is a qualitative analysis of data and findings taken and sampled from various sources of the scientific community. Furthermore, ballast water management practices are considered to give the reader a pragmatic understanding of modern ballast water practices. Scientific experiments related to the sampling and monitoring of ballast water that is treated, the use of devices in testing treated ballast water, and the capturing and sharing of that data are strategically used in this paper to identify key premises that identify sample monitoring device trends or practices to determine how effective these methods are in compliance with the Ballast Water Convention.

2. A Holistic Approach to Monitoring Threats to the Environment in Ballast Water

The BWM Convention has set specific standards for treated and compliant ballast water which states that, ‘the standards that must be fulfilled in the ballast water discharge: <10 viable organisms m⁻³ greater than or equal to 50 μm in minimum dimension (>50 μm) and <10 viable (or living organisms according to the language of the USCG) organisms mL⁻¹ < 50 μm in minimum dimension and greater than or equal to 10 μm in minimum dimension (10–50 μm)’ [4,14]. This means that there is a specific reportable compliance outcome in all results from the varying types of treatment systems that are available for ballast water applications for ships. It is essential to note the effectiveness of monitoring methods in testing whether international law is being accurately complied with. For example, some assessments use eDNA metabarcoding in their rapid tests and it was found that this type of testing may result in 23% false-positive results when used in testing treated ballast water and thus may create a non-compliant record for that treatment system, when the testing device is the issue. This is why, for example, the scientists who conducted this experiment suggested a combination of eRNA/eDNA metabarcoding to produce a more accurate result [15]. The scientists discovered that the DNA of dead organisms tends to survive longer in the dark and cold ballast water tank environment and thus makes its way to extracted tested water that contains living organisms as well.

This study focuses on AIS and fouling; however, ballast water management also extends to testing and treating ballast water being discharged from oiled ballast water treatment systems where the concern is the release of contaminants that are petroleum (hydrocarbons)-based and are beyond the regulatory allowance for effluent that can be discharged from ballast water tanks [16]. When monitoring marine environments, other contaminants should not be ignored as they also provide useful monitoring and forecasting tools for environmental protection [16] (pp. 1–2). For example, heavy metals in ballast water, plastics, hydrocarbons and other harmful exposures should continue to be a holistic and multifold concern of all working to protect the marine environment. A study published in 2024 found that ballast water was responsible for introducing not only pathogens but also heavy metals, such as alarming rates of iron, zinc and lead, into marine environments [3,17].

2.1. Compliance Monitoring Devices (CMDs) on UV-Treated Water Under IMO Regulations

The method of adopting rapid ballast water analysis has been considered by scientists in an experiment where four systems were compared for effectiveness in testing for compliance with the IMO standards for ballast water treatment and management. In their paper, Leonardo Romero-Martinez et al., following a comparative analysis of four CMDs for testing treated ballast water on ships [18], limited their study to systems that used UV treatment, a system that works to disinfect the ballast water on the ship so that it is safe to discharge at a foreign port of loading [18]. Using the theoretical difference in identifying viable or living organisms that survive the ballast water treatment in their experiment, they showed that if they are stained with the testing material Fluorescein Diacetate (FDA), they will show green fluorescence and though they may be alive, they will not be capable of reproducing after discharge. In the USA, the USCG working together with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) refers to microbe indicator tests to determine the ship’s ballast water management compliance. The observation noted by the scientists after comparing four CMDs is that compliance monitoring devices (CMDs), are usually less accurate than detailed analyses because they mostly use biomass proxies such as chlorophyll fluorescence intensity or Adenosine TriPhosphate (ATP). After comparing the following CMDs from several brands—Ballastwise, WALZ-PAM, Ballast-Check 2 and B AQUAPLUS ATP—they found that some CMDs are less accurate; however, they are extremely useful for rapid results that technicians who are not biologists may rely on to have a fair assessment and estimation of the safety and compliance measures of the ballast water on board [18] (pp. 2–3).

2.2. Automation of Ballast Water Verification

One of the important strengths of using technology in ballast water monitoring and forecasting is that it enables the ease of automation, through Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), and thus forecasting, which is highly encouraged at IMO level, so that the achievement of tasks is automated and made easier for everyone in the shipping industry [19]. Therefore, monitoring discharges into the marine environment from ships’ ballast tanks needs to be an automated cross-data sharing effort as there are ongoing threats to the environment. For example, there are still concerns about the presence of microplastics in ballast water discharges [20] as well as sediment that can accumulate for up to a year that is then exposed during the deballasting processes that has viable organisms [21]. This process needs to be automated so that technology that may deal with managing that threat can be deployed to assist the ship once the Port State has obtained the automated data and responded by creating an anti-pollution plan. Keeping electronic records and correct monitoring results will assist in this process. With the IMO getting ready for the introduction of electronic record books for ballast water management and likewise service providers from industry providing both hardware and software to make this possible, it is suggested that the communication of record books can create a more efficient method of dealing with aquatic pollution threats that may still be present in ballast water management. See for example Figure 1 [22] and Figure 2. Figure 1 shows the potential solutions for electronic ballast water recording and how such information may be automated for stakeholders to fight ballast water pollution threats.

2.3. Remote Monitoring of Treated Ballast Water

In Section 2.3 above, automation was alluded to in synthesizing the ballast water record book data to be shared with stakeholders for appropriate action. Since marine technologies are developing constantly to make this synergy possible, it is important to mention that there are some shipping practices, geographic locations and practices that may require unique monitoring solutions such as relying on remote testing of treated ballast water. For example, ballast water harm has been reported on oil rig structures in the Gulf of Mexico [23]. Oil rig ballast water management or the management of ballast operations in extremely remote and/or geographically difficult areas to patrol can benefit from monitoring that is performed remotely. This may mean that treatment of ballast water under the new international regulations may not be as easy to monitor and enforce as in traditional ports (for instance, ballast water management at an offshore marine site is not as accessible as a port on mainland where the authorities may easily reach that area).

It has been proven that in ballast water management, digitization and reporting that took place in 2022, particularly in Brazilian ballast water management and compliance, accounted for a significant rise in BWM Convention compliance [24]. Clearly, digitization allows for the constant flow of information on monitoring compliance data and it is extremely efficient, as the authors found that ‘the digitalization of the reports in 2022 allowed more complex automated analysis…and more effective bio-security assessments [24] (pp. 1–3)’. On a technical note regarding remote monitoring of ship’s ballast water, a technology was proposed by Goran Bakalar et al. known as Flow Cytometry, which, together with satellite communication, has also proven efficient in providing an ongoing fight against AIS and marine pollution through ballast water tanks by obtaining a pre-confirmation of clean treated ballast water so that there is no delay once reaching port controls of various States [25].

Flow cytometry has applications related to the detection of the presence of certain cells and has been described as an ideal monitoring and auto-reporting device for this process. Flow cytometry was one of the earliest proposed technologies in the early process of ballast water testing, monitoring and reporting [26]. It is suggested that this type of technology clearly has the potential to contribute to a monitoring model under the new international law in a way that encourages rapid results, smart record keeping and agrees with the digitization of ballast water management. In 2024, the device has produced even better results as the technology has been developing in various industries.

2.4. The Ballast Water Testing Skid (Ship Tank-to-Tank)

A case study was conducted by Chenyang Duan et al. comparing a ballast water testing skid against some traditional ballast water testing devices. They ran an experiment testing the skid against the manhole, sounding pipe and plankton net. After testing for various organisms, they found that though sampling with a skid slowed down the flow of the water being tested and thus provided a more stable and reliable result, the skid results did not have a significantly different result compared to other testing methods. In their case study, the authors provide valuable insight on selecting the most accurate method of testing ballast water, as ship conditions and laboratory conditions may significantly affect the result and thus give a wrong reading. The case study has many invaluable insights, one of which is ensuring that the testing methods selected are up to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Ships and Marine Technology standards, in particular, Ships and Marine Technology (Aquatic Nuisance Species) Part 1: Ballast Water Discharge Port, ISO 11711-1 (2019) [27]. The ISO standard is held in high regard by the authors as they also submit that best way to test treated ballast water is the tank-to-tank method, thus minimizing all chances of discharging non-compliant water into the sea [28].

3. Conclusions

In conclusion, if some ballast water management monitoring devices are showing that we have only 77% accuracy on some of the compliance tests, this is an indictment of the success of reaching the international law standards of compliance. Furthermore, if there are some tests that potentially give a result that puts the marine environment at risk, this again is a challenge to the marine environmental protection community to fund further research into improving ballast water marine technology. The sampling of ballast water monitoring and testing methods drawn on in this study also demonstrate that the international law on ballast water management is slowing down and stopping new invasions to a greater extent when compared to an era when ballast water treatment technologies did not exist on ships; however, more research and monitoring data (with appropriate inventions) are still necessary to improve upon or develop methods to deal with currently existing invasions that are still costing regions billions to manage every decade. Concerning CDMs, those that provide a better result, such as combining RNA/DNA tests together, should be used to limit false positives for the presence of certain species when testing for living organisms. Some testing issues such as certain CDMs being unable to properly determine whether IMO standards are being met, either due to the flow of the tested water being too strong or some other ship condition, calls for more data from the scientific community to be circumspectly considered so that even the treatment methods that are chosen complement and make it easier to comply with the BWM Convention. Furthermore, more effort must also be highlighted on other ballast water pollutants so that marine environmental protection on the ballast water side is balanced as it is rather difficult to relax these efforts just because organisms and pathogen introductions are dealt with while microplastics, heavy metals, hydrocarbons and other dangerous elements are still being introduced into the sea through ballast water. Finally, it is suggested that providing electric records and data automation in reporting problems is helpful to nations in making sure that they are quickly aware of threats and can make decisions to prevent more serious long-term damage to the marine environment.