A new version of the Japanese-designed Ballast Catch sampling system for detecting viable organisms in ballast water has just gone on sale.
Ballast Catch was designed and jointly developed by Satake Corporation and MOL Engineering. Another division of the giant Japanese conglomerate, MOL Techno-Trade, has been tasked with sales. The main sales targets are Port State Control inspectors and shipowners to use for self-testing.
The system takes advantage of the Satake-designed Ballast Eye which detects the number of viable organisms in ballast water. According to MOL, the system offers the same performance as a plankton net, as a similar nylon net is incorporated in the device, which is replaceable to avoid contamination between old and new samples.
The system can be attached to a handrail and connected to pipework such as a ballast water sampling flange to collect the sample. It is available in backpack form and requires no external power source.
Ballast Catch takes 10 minutes for staining and one minute to detect living organisms to a diameter of 50 micrometres, and 30 minutes for staining and one minute to detect living organisms to a diameter of 10 micrometres.
MOL has disclosed the system will retail at ¥3M (approximately US$27,000) before taxes.
© 2023 Riviera Maritime Media Ltd.