We have obtained the information on the captioned topic from Murphy, Rogers, Sloss, Gambel & Tompkins, our legal correspondent at New Orleans, USA as per the attached.

The United States, not being a signatory to The International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments, 2004 (“BWM Convention”) which will enter into force on 8th September 2017, has instead enacted its own ballast water management requirements (“US Requirements”).  Members are requested to pay special attention to key differences between the BWM Convention and the US Requirements.  In this connection, please also refer to our circular No.17-005 dated 18th July 2017.

The outline of the US Requirements can be found in “Ballast Water Management – A US Perspective (Executive Summary)”.  “Ballast Water Management – A US Perspective” dated 8th August 2017 explains them in detail for further reference.