The Black Sea MoU has released a report into the 2025 Concentrated Inspection Campaign (CIC) on Ballast Water Management (BWM).
The campaign was carried out from 1 September 2025 to 30 November 2025, and it was conducted in conjunction with the Paris and the Tokyo Memoranda. It was also conducted under the campaign coordination of the Maritime Administration of Türkiye.
A total of 775 inspections were carried out covering 736 individual ships. Among these, 624 inspections were conducted using the CIC questionnaire.
During the CIC, 76 ships were detained in total. Of which, 52 detentions were the result of inspections with CIC questionnaires and 16 of them were detained directly attributed to CIC-related deficiencies.
A total of 59 questionnaires recorded at least one non-compliance response, representing 9.4% of CIC inspections. The overall average rate of non-compliances was 1.51%, reflecting the proportion of the “unsatisfactory” answers in relation to all applicable questionnaire responses.
The analysis indicates that non-conformities identified during the CIC were largely focused on a limited number of areas, with approximately 89.3% of all recorded non-compliances relating to three specific questionnaire items:
- the operational condition of Ballast Water Management Systems (BWMS)
- the proper completion of the Ballast Water Record Book (BWRB)
- crew familiarization with the Ballast Water Management Plan (BWMP)
Among these, BWMS operability emerged as the most significant area of concern, accounting for the highest number of non-conformities and the largest share of CIC-related detentions.
- Breakdown of CIC inspections by type:
- Bulk carriers with 214 inspections (34.3%)
- General cargo/multi-purpose ships with 213 inspections (34.1%)
- Oil/chemical tankers with 74 inspections (11.9%)
- Oil tankers with 68 inspections (10.9%)
This comes to a total of 569 total CIC inspections with a rate of 91.2%. CIC-related detentions in the Region were observed in general cargo/multipurpose ships (8 detentions), bulk carriers (7 detentions) and one container ship.
Age of ships
No non-compliant CIC inspections were recorded for ships aged 0–10 years and no CIC-related detentions were observed for ships aged over 35 years.
Ships aged between 15 and 25 years accounted for more than half of the non-compliant responses and 62.5% of CIC-related detentions.
Conclusions
The CIC results indicate a very high level of compliance with certification, approval of the BWM Plan and BWM System, and ballast water sediment management. Nevertheless, the CIC related detention rate of 2.56% highlights the need for continued attention to certain operational and procedural requirements. In particular, the results suggest that further improvements are required in relation to the implementation of exemption conditions, proper completion of the Ballast Water Record Book, operational reliability of the Ballast Water Management System, and crew familiarization with BWMP procedures.
Read the full report: Black Sea MoU - 2025 CIC on Ballast Water Management