By Stephen Ubanna
Not many maritime operators knew what Biofouling Management in the global shipping industry is all about. This may have informed why Bashir Jamoh, Director General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, who appears to have survived President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, sledge hammer, battled pirates, sea thieves to a stand-still, and popularised the blue economy in Nigeria, is on the move again.
This time around, the NIMASA Director General has started popularising ship biofouling management and technology transfer in Nigeria and the African Continent in general. This is evident with the three-day ship biofouling training programmme organised in Lagos, the nation’s commercial nerve centre with the support of the International Maritime Organisation, IMO, a United Nation UN’s maritime agency.
Scientists had defined biofouling as ‘’the accumulation of microorganisms, plants, such as algae, barnacles and mollusks on the surfaces of structures submerged in water and which poses serious economic and environmental threats to coastal states. There is no gain saying the fact that ‘’the invasive aquatic species non-native organisms can cause significant harm to the ecosystems, biodiversity and human activities’’. This is because they often enter into new regions through ballast water discharge, vessel hulls or aquaculture activities.
The problems associated with ships biofouling may have encouraged the four-member Baltic and international Maritime Council, BIMCO, described as the largest international shipping Associations representing shipowners to have forwarded the results of its survey to the IMO, as a way of contributing its quota to the management plan ‘’to prevent the biofouling practice ahead of the UN maritime agency revision of the existing guidelines for ships biofouling’’. BIMCO, was said to have Launched a Biofouling survey in 2018, to gain an insight into how shipowners are managing the biofouling process.
Ship biofouling management plan, according to the BIMCO report is to be vessel-specific and is to provide a description of the biofouling management strategy for the vessels with sufficient details ‘’to allow the vessel’s master, the designated ship’s officer ,or crew members to understand and implement the biofouling management strategy’’
Although, the risks associated with the ship biofouling , according which include ‘’reduced vessel efficiency, ship hulls drag, corrosion increased, fuel consumption and engine stress’’, as well ‘’ pipe blockage, altered marine ecosystems, increased membrane flux, contaminated water, reduced heat- exchanger efficiency’’ are being tackled headlong with the new technologies that had been developed by companies but it has resulted to the introduction of invasive species to new habitats which appears more devastating to coastal states.
Recall that in March,2022, the Leadership of IMO, had received the BIMCO survey report when the Organisation had initiated plans to review the 2011 guidelines for control and management of ships biofouling strategies ‘’to optimise the transfer of the technology to prevent spread of invasive species.
Given that shipping Companies rely mostly on submerged equipment to capture offshore wind, wave, and tidal energy, maritime analysts had said that biofouling could still make things difficult for them ‘’to keep the equipment clean and operational’’. Recall that BIMCO had said that ‘’ ships biofouling requires constant maintenance of infrastructure and use of special materials to protect these all- important investments in the future
Indeed the increased roughness presented by a heavily fouled ship hulls was said to have necessitated why the IMO had imposed over 86% powering penalties at cruising speed of ships . The IMO Leadership were said to have made it clear to member countries that ‘’without effective antifouling measures , to maintain ship speed , fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions would increase significantly’’. Note that the Bulk carrier vessel, ‘’IDL Marigold was the first IMO biofouling casualty’’ in March 2017. There had been other ship casualties that wee said to contravened the IMO ship biofouling requirements between 2018 and now.
There are indications that that biofouling management plans costs aquaculture and shipping industries billions of the North American country of the United States, US, dollars yearly on maintenance and extra-fuel usage. This may have encouraged some IMO, member countries to develop their Biofouling requirements for ships visiting their ports, while a few others were said ‘’to have restricted or prohibited in-water cleaning of ships in their waters.
Scientists from the University of Sydney, Australia, were said to have developed ‘’nano wrinkled coatings that have the potential to avoid the build- up of damaging biofouling biological materials to save about $320 million annually by the country’s shipping industry. The US, shipping industry according reports spends upwards of $23 billion annually to prevent biofouling.
The take off of the Glo Fouling Regional Task Force speaks volume. The GLO Fouling Task Force between July 217th and 20th, 2023, was said to have convened a meeting, being the second in one year, as part of efforts to address the biofouling issue in Fiji Islands. The meeting was said to have discussed the effective biofouling management strategies , including hull cleaning and coating technologies, regulator frameworks and best practices.
The GEF-UNDP -IMO GloFouling Partnerships project , described as a global initiative which was said to have brought together the experts , policy makers and otherstakeholders from the pacific countries ‘’to discuss strategies share ideas and develop coordinated actions to mitigate the adverse effects of biofouling and invasive species in the region may have achieved the purpose.
Indeed, the success of the Pacific region biofouling two-day training workshop may have informed why the Leadership of ‘’the IMO had adopted the Regional Taskforce’’ in managing biofouling and invasive species within each region.
Until the Pacific region biofouling workshop that was held in July 2023, The IMO backed biofouling training workshop was said to have been hosted in Netherlands, New Zealand, Galapagos and the Mediterranean region where participants were drawn from Malta, Albania, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Spain and Tunisia. Jordan, Middle East country and the two Asian countries of Phillipines and Indonesia have taking the lead over the last couple of years in the delivery of a training programme on biofouling management.
Jamoh, the NIMASA, dIrector General may have taken advantage of these various biofouling management training workshops in the different regions, to join the league as the leading maritime nation to organise a 3-day Biofouling Training rogramme in the African Lagos, the nation’s commercial nerve centre, October 2023, with members drawn from the different countries in the African Containent and private agencies.
Speaking at the opening session on Monday, October 30, 2023, at the Maritime regulatory agency Technology Cooperation Centre, MTCC, at Apapa, Lagos, at the training workshop on the transfer of biofouling sound technologies for partnering countries in the Continent with the theme: The place of technology in the management of Bifouling , Jamoh, the NIMASA Chief Executive officer, CEO, had pointed out that ‘’the Biofouling training programme would go a long way to showcase the western technologies used in the management of the Biofouling process, their application and cost -effective practices, including the related benefits for the Continent’s maritime environment and efficiency of shipping’’.
Hear him: The importance of protecting and conserving the seas, oceans and the inhabitants of the various countries in the African Continent which are intrinsically linked to them and their wellbeing reflects that of the sub-Saharan African Continent too.
He noted that ‘’shipping is at the crux of global trading and the economy with about 90% of world trade and commerce still being facilitated through shipping. He had revealed that studies had shown that ships serve over a time as a channel of transportation of harmful non -indigenous non-invasive Aquatic Species, IAS from one location to another. According to him, these harmful organisms attach themselves to the outer surface and niche areas of a ship and are then translocated from one region to another.
The NIMA helmsman was said to have told participants at the Biofouling training workshop that the Nigerian economy is relies heavily on international trade because shipping is a key component of the country’s import and export activities. He asserted that ships biofouling it will inevitably expose the nation to threats of the IAS, transfer in the c water ways which could have been avoided with careful management of the biofouling problem.
The NIMASA boss was said to have made the participants at the three- day biofouling training workshop that ‘’the IMO guidelines for control and management of biofouling ships is an international instrument aimed at addressing and to maintain the efficiency , safety and environmental sustainability of maritime operations and prevent the spread of the invasive species in the African countries water ways’’.
The NIMASA helmsman was said to have made it clear to the participants that ‘’ship Biofouling if not properly tackled in Nigeria, would pose a threat ‘’ to the country’s transition to the Blue Economy due to its environmental burdens’’, stressing that ‘’a healthy ocean s a healthy future’’ to distil the essence of the 3-day workshop on the transfer of environmentally sound technologies, to African countries, TEST’’.
The Katsina state born technocrat had listed some of the environmental burdens which includes ‘’low productivity, biodiversity, lower resilience to climate change and economic burdens , insisting that that there must be huge prevention and control of the biofouling challenge.
The NIMASA CEO, may to have used the opportunity provided by the Biofouling training Workshop, to encourage the foreign participants ‘’to explore and enjoy the fascinating insights of the coastal city of Lagos, urging participants not to be left behind on the IMO, call for zero emissions by 20050’’.
At the end of the 3-day biofouling training programme in Nigeria, participants from the government, foreign agencies and other private organisations were said to have had an apparent understanding of how effective the biofouling management plans and biofouling record books are reducing , managing and even preventing biofouling with the additional advantages of having cleaner hulls and internal seawater systems.
Jose Matheickal, Head, Department of Partnerships and Projects, IMO, who was said to have attended the Biofouling Workshop in Nigeria, was so excited that the NIMASA Director General, could take the bold initiative ‘’to take the lead in hosting the strategic MTCC, Africa training on Test Biofouling’’, describing the regional biofouling workshop in Africa as encouraging.
He may have gladdened the heart of the women participants at the 2-day Biofouling Workshop, when he disclosed that the IMO, over the years, have been encouraging the women ‘’to participate in the maritime sector’’, noting that the Leadership is happy to find African women in Maritime, WIMAFRICA, Nigeria and other women groups emerging in the African Continent maritime space.
