Covid-19, delivery contracts and the G8 type-approval deadline

The webinar was the first in Riviera Maritime Media’s Ballast Water Webinar Week, part of our ongoing multi-week series of webinars.

ABS senior principal engineer William Burroughs and Hyde Marine senior market manager Mark Riggio discussed the steps owners and operators must take now to ensure their ballast water treatment systems on order meet the requirements of IMO’s revised requirements for G8 type-approval which enters into force on 28 October 2020. 

For those owners and operators that have ordered ballast water treatment systems complying with the 2008 IMO G8 requirements, there is an urgent need to have those systems installed before the deadline of 28 October 2020. Meeting that deadline has now been severely impacted by the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent lockdown in China. The repair yards are now emerging from the lockdown, but there has been a knock-on effect throughout the ballast water treatment system supply chain.

In a poll taken during the webinar, 73% of attendees reported the Covid-19 pandemic had impacted their ability to install systems with 60% of attendees reporting the pain-point was at shipyard level.

Mr Burroughs’ advice was for owners and operators to ensure that action had been taken to comply. He said, “Please check your contracts. If you ordered a 2008 G8 for installation before the deadline but the process is delayed due to the pandemic, you need to revise the contract and have the (pre-deadline) delivery dates in the contract.”

Mr Riggio agreed with his advice and noted that the 2008 G8 requirements are part of the evolution of regulations on ballast water treatment systems. Regarding the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, the latest version of the Hyde Marine system incorporates remote access. “We install a router and that router can either be hardwired cellular access or hardwired cellular and wifi,” he said. The system can be retrofitted to other Hyde Marine ballast water treatment systems. “We can troubleshoot and assist crews immediately on board even before the vessel gets to port,” he said

The majority of webinar attendees (65%) also reported, via a poll, that they would shop around the next time they purchased a ballast water treatment system. Mr Riggio had some advice for those owners and operators. “There is a lot of talk about ballast water treatment systems not working, but the reality is most of those issues relate to system design limitations and improper usage. Owners and operators need to research thoroughly where the system will be operating, the water quality requirements and the operator interface to ensure the system can be operated efficiently and safely.”

You can view the webinar, in full, in our webinar library.

And you can sign up to attend upcoming webinars on our events page.