Feature 4 | WATER TREATMENT BWT processes still driven by uncertainty


Although the IMO’s international ballast water convention was supposed to be ratified this January, there is still a lot of confusion regarding the schedule – and little adoption of new ballast water treatment systems – across the industry.


the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water would appear to be hanging in an uneasy balance. Officially, at time of going to press, more than the target number of 30 states have signed up to the convention, but the specified ceiling of 35% of the world fleet has not been reached (estimates currently place that figure at anywhere between 27-32%). Te result is that a substantial number


T


of operators are yet to invest in a suitable ballast water treatment (BWT) system. As Jean-Francois Segretain, deputy technical director of French classification society Bureau Veritas (BV), tells Offshore Marine Technology: “Very few new vessels are being fitted with BWT systems – most owners are asking the yards to reserve them a space for the systems, but the equipment isn’t actually being installed yet. There has still no been feedback from the larger flags, such as Panama, which, if it came onboard, would fulfil the 35% fleet quota.” The uncertainty surrounding whether or not vessels should begin to adopt BWT systems could lead to severe delays in implementing said systems, meaning that the industry could potentially enter into last-minute panic buying when IMO clarifies the situation. According to Segretain: “Japanese yards


have indicated that at least 40 vessels would have to be fitted with BWT systems daily to meet the requirements of the convention.” Similarly, Kai Trümpler of the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency of Germany estimates that, as of September 2011, some 66 BWT systems were still lodged in the approval process. Segretain comments: “BWT system manufacture is still a very young industry – some of these developers will disappear and the number of manufacturers offering


he International Maritime Organizat ion’s (IMO’s) International Convention for


Siemens Water Technologies’ SiCure BWT system has been developed to purify ballast water at a starting rate of 600m3


per hour.


solutions is sure to contract in the future.” Part of the problem is that the industry


is dealing with products that are, for the most part, untested over the full period of a vessel’s life cycle. According to the terms of the convention, BWT systems should treat ballast water to ensure that each tonne contains less than 10 living organisms larger than 50 microns (μm) and less than 10 such organisms of between 10-50μm per milliliter of ballast water. Classification societies may be able to offer advice and criteria for certification for the two dominant modes of post-filtration BWT (the first being the use of chemical treatment, or ‘active substances’ and the second being the use of UV systems to kill off organisms within the water) but, as Segretain concedes, nobody can be sure how these systems will perform 10-15 years down the line. He claims that, to date, the majority of approved BWT


Offshore Marine Technology 1st Quarter 2012


systems follow the chemical treatment model, while Bureau Veritas has approved five UV-based systems.


State by state Things get even more complicated when one looks to the US, where the US Congress, US Coast Guard (USCG) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are primarily trusted with overseeing implementation of


the convention.


However, Doug Schneider, vice president of the World Shipping Council, remarks: “Individual states have a role to play in BWT requirements; the decision is not up to the Federal Government alone. Te timeline for implementation in the US should be similar to the IMO schedule, though the USCG has hinted at some elements of G8 [governing approval of BWT systems] and G9 [covering approval of BWT systems using active substances] that it would like


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