With an estimated 35,000 vessels needing to be fitted with new ballast water management systems by September 2024, sales and installations should be running at full speed – is that the case?
The latest ballast water treatment deadline of 1 June 2022 occurred just before the international shipping exhibition and party-fest that is Posidonia 2022 in Greece, and it was a good time to catch up with ballast water management systems (BWMS) providers and suppliers.
The 1 June 2022 deadline concerned commission testing, but the big deadline is 8 September 2024, when all vessels over 400 gt, including OSVs, will be required to have IMO D-2 compliant BWMS to continue to trade.
The impending deadline should be creating a rush of retrofit installations of BWMS, but that is not the case, said BWMS provider Optimarin’s chief executive Leiv Kallestad at Posidonia 2022. “We are seeing extensions being granted [by flag] all the time,” he said. ”We see it here in Greece and other markets.”
He said a six-month extension is pushing the retrofit installation of D-2 standard ballast water treatment systems (BWTS) back into 2023 and 2024.
However, the acceleration of commissioning is quite remarkable; Mr Kallestad said Optimarin had double the number in 2022 of that in 2021, which itself was double that of 2020.
“The aim is to provide 10,000 BWMS by 2025”
But now there is the impact of the lockdown in Shanghai, which has just eased, and the component shortage, especially of computer chips, which has not.
In this respect, Optimarin points to its ability to leverage a flexible delivery model for key components for its BWTS, which has been vital to overcoming supply chain challenges to keep rolling out its in-demand product to clients amid rising orders.
Optimarin has a dual-supplier strategy in place that has enabled it to maintain efficient system deliveries even though supply capacity has been strained as demand has rebounded after the lifting of pandemic restrictions.
MR Kallestad noted how digitalisation is now near the top of the agenda.
Optimarin launched the OptiLink BWMS – a cloud-based solution for real-time monitoring of the BWTS with ship-to-shore data connectivity. Now Optimarin has been added to the Kognifai Marketplace – an open digital ecosystem where Kongsberg Digital’s Vessel Insight customers and partners can access and integrate a broad variety of powerful applications and services from third-party providers in a one-stop-shop experience for shipowners and operators, turning raw data into real value. This results in more optimised, transparent and sustainable operations for shipowners.
Also attending Posidonia 2022 was Alfa Laval head of PureBallast Peter Sahlén who had also experienced firm BWMS sales ahead of the deadline. He said the aim is to provide 10,000 BWMS by 2025.
Mr Sahlén said this target is based on the impending D-2 standard coming into force 8 September 2024 and the company’s ability to supply a large quantity of BWTS at relatively short notice. “Alfa Laval PureBallast has never missed a compliance date,” he said. “We have installed some 5,000 systems.”
Supporting the target is Alfa Laval’s new production line for Alfa Laval PureBallast 3 in Qingdao, China. Mr Sahlén noted Asia is already a key market for Alfa Laval PureBallast 3, the third generation of Alfa Laval’s leading ballast water treatment technology. The majority of PureBallast 3 installations occur at Asian shipyards and with a large orderbook in some sectors, as the wave of BWTS retrofits begins to subside in 2024, Asian shipyards will become even more dominant as the focus shifts to newbuildings.
Will there be a fourth-generation PureBallast BWMS? “There might be. We currently have 11 models,” said Mr Sahlén, “and we are committed to providing what our customers want.”
This includes retrospectively type-approving older generation models. In addition, backing up the target of 10,000 units are the Alfa Laval PureBallast service centres worldwide. “We have more than 100 service engineers,” said Mr Sahlén.
Shortly after Posidonia 2022 in Greece there followed a much more sedate shipping gathering on the island of Donsö in Sweden. The Donsö Shipping Meet 2022 was organised by the shipowning and operating companies on the island, including Sirius Shipping, whose newbuilding and technical manager Anders Bejre described the company’s BWMS installation process.
“We are seeing extensions being granted [by flag] all the time”
The main sponsor of Donsö Shipping Meet 2022 was Danish marine equipment manufacturer DESMI, which supplied the BWMS for Sirius Shipping’s small clean tankers, including the 2006-built, 11,200 dwt Scorpius.
Mr Bejre made the point that the discussions with BWTS providers started two years before the actual installation. The main points of discussion were technical, regarding the requirements of the Sirius vessels. The flow rate required was between 500 m3 / hour to 750 500 m3 / hour, depending on the vessel.
One of the reasons for choosing DESMI was flexibility – the Sirius vessels are small and the DESMI BWMS is available in different packages to optimise the relatively small machinery spaces.
The lesson learnt, he said, was to gather as many drawings as possible, which is not always possible with older vessels, and visit the vessel to confirm the drawings and scan if necessary.
He also advised employing an experienced commissioning engineering team: “The new system is a big puzzle, and their experience is required.” Having the same BWMS across the fleet is a big advantage. He added that DESMI’s uplink system allowed the BWMS to be upgraded to a higher flow rate online.
“We are happy to have this equipment installed, and we have had fantastic support (from DESMI),” said Mr Bejre.
© 2023 Riviera Maritime Media Ltd.