NAIAS LABS organized and presented, in collaboration with their local station, at Houston Texas on March 25^th 2022, a one day workshop on “The Current Ballast Water Management Regulatory Compliance Environment and Practices”.

The workshop was attended by high ranking officers of the United States Coast Guard (USCG) from Houston, Port Arthur, Corpus  Christi, representatives of ABS and NKK as well as managers from large international shipping companies.

The workshop dealt with the following topics:

• The International and National Regulatory Frames on Ballast Water Management.
• Brief Overview of Laboratory Compliance Testing .Analytical Protocols.
• Ballast Water Compliance Testing Report Examples.
• Interpretation of Testing Results for Compliance Assessment.
• Available Practical Tools for Ballast Water Regulatory Sampling and Testing.
• A Brief Overview and Summary Conclusions from NAIAS LABS Experience on International Ballast Water Compliance Testing.

There was strong interest on the content of the workshop which resulted into very productive discussions on matters related to specific practical difficulties encountered by ships internationally on compliance efforts. NAIAS LABS also summarized their field experience on the subject and suggested that it would be welcomed by industry if National and  International regulatory frames on Ballast Water Management could converge in the future into a more uniform and perhaps more practical frame.

The productive participation of the USCG officers with comments and views on the subjects were highly appreciated and helpful.

It was decided to continue the interaction of NAIAS LABS with the USCG with actual synergies in the field over the next period.