Canada published a bulletin explaining the requirements of section 24 of the Ballast Water Regulations (BWR), which addressees the way in which the master of a vessel that is bound for a port, offshore terminal or anchorage area in Canada must submit duly completed Ballast Water Reporting Form (BWRF).
What operators need to know
Shippers must submit a BWRF for all ballast tanks, regardless of their ballast tank conditions, and even they don’t plan to discharge ballast while in water under Canadian jurisdiction.
The BWRF and documents must be submitted as follow:
A duly completed BWRF and required documents must be submitted electronically via email to the appropriate address indicated below and must include the vessel name, IMO vessel number, name of the first port of call and estimated /time of arrival in the subject line. The submission must include:
Failure to Comply
It is the responsibility of the master of the vessel to ensure that all BWRF and required documents provided to TCMSS are complete and accurate.
Masters of vessels subject to the Regulations failing to submit, or submitting incomplete or inaccurate BWRF and documents, risk subjecting their vessel to administrative and control actions such as, but not limited to administrative monetary penalties, inspection, detention, redirection, or expulsion from Canadian waters, in addition the master may be fined under the administrate monetary penalty regime.
