24-10-2012, 12:12 PM
Tank Access for Ballast Water Sampling
ABSTRACT
New USA Coast Guard regulations will mandate ballast water exchange for ships entering U.S. waters from beyond the
200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone boundary. In order for the Coast Guard to verify compliance boarding teams must
physically collect ballast water samples from tanks or discharges to analyze them with portable onsite equipment. In order to
maximize the number of ships checked and minimize interference with ships’ operations, the sample collecting and testing
must be as simple as possible. To this end. easy access to ballast tanks is of paramount importance. This report presents an
overview of typical ballast tank arrangements and identifies five different ballast tank accesses generally found on ships that
make U.S. port calls. The practicality of using each of these five accesses is discussed, with particular regard to the use of
state-of-the-art ballast water sampling equipment. This report recommends modifications to certain existing ballast tank
accesses in order to provide easy and convenient access for obtaining samples.