Ports, like vessels, are required to meet a wide range of legal obligations to ensure safe and effective operations with minimal damage to the environment. Although the Ballast Water Management (BWM) Convention imposes no legal requirements on ports, they do have a duty to protect the environment and, therefore, have an interest in the convention and its implementation. The role ports can play in the execution of the imminent regulation primarily relates to providing alternative options for meeting the convention through means otherthan ship-board treatment systems, which can be costly and are yet to be proven. Alternatives to these treatment systems which may be offered by ports include: 1) assisting with the exemptions application process; 2) providing onshore- or barge-based reception facilities for cleaning or storing ballast; and 3) implementing ballast water management plans.
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