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Ballast Water Management Equivalent Reporting Program

Overview

The Coast Guard's Equivalent Reporting Program offers an alternative for an Owner, Operator, Master, Agent, Person-in-Charge or Charterer to submit required Ballast Water Management (BWM) Reports in a single batch report on a monthly basis, instead of on a port-to-port, pre-arrival schedule as required under 33 CFR 151.2041(b).

Click here to download essential files associated with this program.

Eligibility Criteria to Participate in BMW Equivalent Reporting Program

To participate in the BWM Equivalent Reporting Program the following criteria must be met:

The applicant vessel must operate exclusively within the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) or Canadian equivalent;
The applicant vessel must not have ever been listed on a Coast Guard Lookout List for failing to submit a ballast water report or for submitting incomplete or inaccurate reports;
The person submitting the form must have suitable capability for e-mailing the form as an attachment;

And Either

The applicant vessel makes 10 or more ballast water reports per calendar month; OR
The fleet of applicant vessels, owned by the same company, makes 50 or more ballast water reports per calendar month.

Application Process

To be accepted into this program the following steps must be completed:

Application: Complete the BWM Equivalent Reporting Program Application and e-mail it as an attachment to the Coast Guard's Environmental Standards Division: environmentalstandards@comdt.uscg.mil.
Acceptance: All applicants will receive a reply e-mail from the Coast Guard indicating whether or not they are accepted into the Equivalent Reporting Program.
BWM Equivalent Reporting Form and User Manual: Following acceptance, vessel-specific BWM Equivalent Reporting Forms will be e-mailed directly from the National Ballast Information Clearinghouse (NBIC) to the point of contact listed for each vessel in the application. After receiving the Forms, the point of contact should return to this page to download a copy of the BWM Equivalent Reporting Form User Manual.

The electronic BWM Equivalent Reporting Form provided will be the only format accepted. The Form is to be saved to a computer hard drive and reused each time a report is submitted. By the due date of each month, a completed form is to be e-mailed to NBIC at monthly@ballastreport.org in accordance with the instructions in the BWM Equivalent Reporting Form User Manual.

Due Dates

Vessels accepted into the program based on their making 10 or more ballast water reports per month

An individual vessel accepted accepted under this criterion must file the monthly report electronically with NBIC by:

5 PM Eastern time on the 7th of each month.

The monthly report must include all of the vessel's ballasting information for the previous month, up to but not including the 1st day of the month during which the report is filed.

For example, an Equivalent Reporting Form containing all the ballast water management information from January 1st through January 31st must be received by NBIC by 5 PM on February 7th.

Vessels accepted into the program based on their being a part of a fleet of vessels with the same owner, and the combined fleet making 50 or more ballast water reports per month

Vessels accepted under this criterion must file individual monthly reports electronically with NBIC by:

5 PM Eastern time on the 15th of each month.

Each monthly report must include the ballasting information for the previous month, up to but not including the 7th of the month during which the report is filed.

For example, Equivalent Reporting Forms containing ballast water management information from January 7th through February 7th, must be must be submitted for each vessel in the fleet, and received by NBIC by 5 PM on February 15th.

Reporting Compliance Elements

Participation in the Equivalent BWM Reporting Program begins the month after receiving a vessel-specific BWM Equivalent Reporting Form from NBIC. Until then, all vessel ballast water reports must be submitted under the requirements of 33 CFR 151.2041(b).

Once entered into the BWM Equivalent Reporting Program:

Each report must be filed electronically with NBIC by the assigned due date of each month in order to remain in compliance with the Coast Guard's BWM reporting requirements.
Failure to meet the report due date for two or more months will result in cancellation of eligibility for the Equivalent Reporting Program.
Failure to meet the above Eligibility Criteria for an individual vessel or fleet of vessels for two or more months will result in cancellation of eligibility from the Equivalent Reporting Program.
Compliance deficiencies identified during vessel inspections or audits may result in cancellation of eligibility for the Equivalent Reporting Program.
If any of the information submitted in a BWM Equivalent Reporting Program Application changes, a new application must be filed.

Technical Requirements

BWM Equivalent Reporting Forms must be submitted via e-mail. NBIC will not accept BWM Equivalent Reporting Forms submitted any other way. In order to participate in the Equivalent Reporting Program, the person filling out and submitting the BWM Equivalent Reporting Form must have the following software and internet capabilities:

Adobe Reader, version 6.0.2 or higher. Instructions for downloading this free software can be found in the BWM Equivalent Reporting Form User Manual.
Ability to receive e-mail messages from the e-mail addresses monthly@ballastreport.org and nbic@ballastreport.org
Ability to initially receive the vessel-specific BWM Equivalent Reporting Form as an e-mail attachment (~120 KB in size)
Ability to send e-mail messages with attachments to the address monthly@ballastreport.org. The size of the attachment will depend on how many voyages are included in the monthly report (approximately 5 - 10 KB for each individual voyage).

Questions and Comments

Technical questions about the BWM Equivalent Reporting Program Application or the BWM Equivalent Reporting Form should be directed to:

Kelly Ryan
NBIC Data Manager - Electronic Submissions
e-mail: ryank@si.edu
ph: 443-482-2339

Regulatory questions about the BWM Equivalent Reporting Program should be directed to:

U.S. Coast Guard Environmental Standards Division
ph: 202-267-2716

Downloads

The following documents are available for download below:

BWM Equivalent Reporting Program Application
BWM Equivalent Reporting Form User Manual

Download the BWM Equivalent Reporting Program Application

To begin the acceptance process, download an application, fill it out and submit it to the U.S. Coast Guard's Environmental Standards Division via the following e-mail address:
environmentalstandards@comdt.uscg.mil

How to Download the BWM Equivalent Reporting Program Application:
This application is in PDF format. You will need Adobe Reader to view and complete it.

Click here to download the BWM Equivalent Reporting Program Application. The application will open in your browser window.
Select "Save a Copy" or "Save" from the toolbar directly above the image of the application.
Choose a location on your computer's hard drive where you want to store the BWM Equivalent Reporting Program Application.

How to Fill Out and Submit the BWM Equivalent Reporting Program Application:

Open the copy of the application that you saved on your computer.
Enter all the required information into the appropriate blanks on Page 1.
Enter Vessel-specific Information for the first vessel you would like to have considered for the program into the appropriate blanks on Page 2.
Complete the Point of Contact Information on Page 2.
For each additional vessel you would like to have considered for the program:

click the "Add Another Vessel" button. A new Vessel-specific information box will appear (use the Page Down button to view it).
Enter the vessel's information into the appropriate blanks in this box.

Save your changes by selecting "Save" from the File menu.
Attach your completed application to an e-mail message and send the message to environmentalstandards@comdt.uscg.mil.

Download the BWM Equivalent Reporting Form User Manual

This document provides a complete guide to using the BWM Equivalent Reporting Form, from initial setup to submission. It contains essential information for any person who will be submitting BWM Reports using the BWM Equivalent Reporting Form.

How to Download the BWM Equivalent Reporting Form User Manual:
This maual is in PDF format. You will need Adobe Reader to view it.

Click here to download the BWM Equivalent Reporting Form User Manual. The User Manual will open in your browser window.
Select "Save a Copy" or "Save" from the toolbar directly above the image of the User Manual.
Choose a location on your computer's hard drive where you want to store the BWM Equivalent Reporting Form User Manual.

Equivalent Reporting Program

National Ballast Information Clearinghouse