ballast water conference review
There are still more questions than answers on ballast
investment until a clear and consistent regulatory framework emerges, Capt Joe Corcoran, managing director of Wallem (Germany) told 130 delegates attending the opening day of Riviera’s Ballast Water Treatment Technology Conference in Hamburg, held in association with Wärtsilä. Speaking from the floor, Capt Corcoran told
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the auditorium that ‘without exception’ all of the owners and operators that he does business with are horrified by the proposed legislation and refuse to proactively test ballast water treatment plant as they feel nothing is clear. “I was talking to a major tanker owner
yesterday. Their project team proposed to its board of directors that they set aside US$3 million to test new systems on two vessels. The board rejected the proposal outright.” Industry is “in a state of paralysis. No one knows what [requirements] the United States will mandate, or even what New York will do. The authorities have not got their act together, and we can not do anything until we get that sorted out. We foresee an implementation date coming into force within a year or two. Nobody will be ready. We just don’t see how it will be possible to meet this timetable and any requirements.” Through its four sessions on day one the
conference brought attendees up-to-date on present regulatory, technical and commercial landscapes. The discussion was characterised by a tremendous candour when it came to
anker operators remain mystified by the Ballast Water Management Convention and are increasingly unwilling to sanction
A confused ballast water regulatory picture and a general lack of operational data means operators are still unsure on how to comply with the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water & Sediments
operational experience, from both the owner and supplier perspective. Managing director of shipmanagement
company John T Essberger (JTE), Hans Christian Griesinger, detailed JTE’s experience on a pilot installation project involving a 5,300 tonne chemical tanker that is still under construction. In the systems suppliers’ forum,
representatives from Optimarin, Alfa Laval, RWO Marine Water Technology and Siemens, fielded a range of questions including the challenges associated with ballast ejectors. Each also had their testing regimes robustly scrutinised. Issues around the relationship between ballast water coatings and systems were rigorously assessed in the operational challenges session. In particular, discussion revealed that owners were holding off on plans to retrofit ballast water plant owing to uncertainty around the long term effects of the systems on their coatings, both in terms of corrosion effects, as well as the impact of plant on older vessels and older coating systems. The second day saw the issue of filtration
and separation take centre-stage. Compliance, monitoring and enforcement were also on the agenda and the programme rounded out with the shipoperators’ forum. Participants here include Arvind Nygaard of Frontline Management. Speaking from the floor Eddie Bucknall,
Jon Stewart (IMTC): “More patchwork is the last thing we want”
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technical director, Columbia Shipmanagement reminded the gathering that it is possible to comply with the convention without installing plant. “Annex 5 states clearly that ballast water treatment can be done ashore, ships can have permanent ballast or they can retain ballast onboard. Nowhere does it say that we have to actually fit ballast water treatment because you could be denied access to a port if they didn’t want your ballast in the water. Conversely you could complain to the port and ask: ‘why don’t you have a ballast water treatment plant? It might be a very interesting legal argument!” He went on to suggest transporting water could
Capt Joe Corcoran (Wallem, Germany): “The board rejected the proposal outright”
provide a welcome fillip for the tanker industry. “A lot of tankers go to dry countries and Qatar Gas, with their 18 LNGs, is looking to transport fresh water out of Zeebrugge to the Middle East.” Mr Bucknall added that industry now needs to
research which ports in the world have freshwater which could be used for irrigation to take ballast water to areas where we load cargoes. “I think we might be surprised. When I did the analysis to see how many voyages in ballast could be made probably less burdensome to the owners if we were transporting irrigation water there were many options.” Addressing the need for a clear regulatory
regime, Jon Stewart, president, International Maritime Technology Consultants, said that the uncertainty that is associated with new environmental regulations is nothing new. “With other environmental rules, such as those pertaining to oily water separators and discharge levels, there was nothing in the beginning. Equipment went through a lot of trials and tribulations as did the people trying to operate it.” He did however caution that the delay in
ratification and operators’ wish that everything would be in total harmony before they do anything is very dangerous. “In the absence of the convention being ratified, you will see a stronger likelihood of nations that are preparing for ratification setting their domestic policy to be in tune with the convention. This may indeed end up creating a worse patchwork than it is today in the absence of that cohesive regulation. That is the last thing we want: more patchwork and less cohesion.” TST
Tanker Shipping & Trade I October/November 2011 I 49
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