Confusion about the deadline for implementing ballast water management systems has put the brakes on some shipowners ordering the equipment – but they must not delay, say industry experts
IMO is not making a decision about the implementation deadline for ballast water management systems (BWMSs) until July this year – and this has slowed down the ordering of these systems as shipowners wait for a decision, says Christopher Todd, executive director at Calgon Carbon UV Technologies and Hyde Marine.
July is when the next meeting of IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 71) takes place. MEPC was originally due to meet in May but the meeting has been moved to avoid a clash with a United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting that month.
Mr Todd urged shipowners not to delay in ordering equipment. “Given that shipowners can purchase equipment today that has United States Coast Guard (USCG) alternative management system (AMS) acceptance and given that market prices are as low as they are going to get, combined with the fact that shipowners can safeguard the USCG AMS compliance by up to 10 years, then they should be installing equipment now. If the vessel is at an age of 10-15 years, then operators can secure compliance to the end of its useful life. There is value in that that is not yet quite understood by the market. The message has not been communicated very well,” he told Passenger Ship Technology.
DNV GL, which is carrying out a great deal of work with BWMSs, has also warned about delaying the decision to buy a system.
Martin Olofsson, DNV GL senior principal engineer, told a select group of journalists at a press event organised by the class society at the end of last year: “In our scenario, the IOPP [International Oil Pollution Prevention certificate] renewal, which is when the BWMS needs to be installed, should be evenly spread out. What we do not want to happen is for a shipowner to find ways of avoiding installing the treatment system and then having to do a lot of retrofits closer to 2022.”
He warned: “Lots of shipowners are talking about rescheduling their IOPP renewal survey. They are asking if they can do it before the entry into force date [of the Ballast Water Management Convention], and moving the IOPP renewal survey date so they get another five years. More and more flag states are accepting the IOPP renewal before the entry into force. This means we will be getting everyone at the end of the time frame.”
If this happens then DNV GL’s workload will span 1,500 projects a year rather than 450. “So from a class perspective, this is not what we want to see,” Mr Olofsson summed up.
The battle for USCG type approval
Hyde Marine is preparing to retest its system in order to receive USCG type approval, after its request was rejected for its most probable number (MPN) technique to be recognised as an alternative test method. The USCG requires organisms to be killed, and many manufacturers of ultra violet (UV) based systems rely on an MPN technique to confirm whether their systems comply. But in December 2015 the USCG decided that MPN was not an acceptable testing method because it believed that it does not measure the efficacy of a BWMS to kill organisms. Hyde Marine filed an appeal that was denied by the USCG in July last year.
Mr Todd said: “We are preparing to retest our system in accordance with the USCG’s preferred testing methodology. We disagree [with its decision] but the USCG made it clear that that is its approach, so we are going to do what we have to do to get certification.”
In order to achieve compliance, Hyde Marine is aiming to increase its system’s UV dose capability. “The impact will only be nominal in terms of capital cost for the shipowner, but there will be a reasonably sizeable increase in its power consumption in order to meet the USCG testing regime.” Hyde Marine is looking to introduce two operating modes, one for shipowners operating in US waters (whereby the power is increased) and one for when in IMO waters (less power used).
Mr Todd said that Hyde Marine was going to carry out its land based testing again, at the beginning of March. This will take 4-6 months, and will be followed by shipboard testing. The target was to submit the type approval application by the end of the year. Mr Todd said that the company hoped that it would obtain type approval in the first quarter of next year.
Speaking about the changes to be made to the system, once it has gained type approval, he said: “We are very careful about product changes, to ensure that any changes can be retrofitted to existing equipment in the field. We have tried to be as alert to this as possible in order to minimise the difficulty of doing upgrades on systems that are currently fitted in ships.”
Hyde Marine fitted another 10 cruise ships with its Guardian system last year, including vessels belonging to Royal Caribbean International. Hyde Marine’s current system has AMS acceptance from the USCG.
Alfa Laval reached a milestone on 23 December last year when it received USCG type approval for the third generation of its PureBallast BWMS.
The USCG based its type approval of PureBallast on CMFDA/FDA testing conducted at DHI in Denmark. This testing method uses a combination of two fluorescein-based stains (FDA and CMFDA) to evaluate the status of organisms in ballast water samples. The testing was carried out using the same hardware, power consumption and flow as the IMO-certified version of the PureBallast 3 family. Outside the USA, where PureBallast has been type approved using the MPN method, the USCG-certified system will operate in IMO mode and be able to treat water with UV transmittance as low as 42 per cent.
PureBallast has a flexible construction based on four different UV reactor sizes. This permits optimised sizing and competitive solutions over a wide flow range. The current type approval covers flows of 150m3-3,000m3 per hour based on the 300m3 and 1,000m3 per hour reactor sizes, while type approval for systems based on 170m3 and 600m3 per hour reactors is expected soon.
Shipyards get in on act
It is not just manufacturers but shipyards, too, which are involved in providing BWMSs. Singapore’s Sembcorp Marine provides turnkey solutions for ballast water management retrofit installations. But as well as working with owner-furnished equipment specifications, Sembcorp Marine can provide alternative equipment supply solutions which integrate the Semb-Eco LUV BWMS, the first in Singapore to be type approved by IMO.
Ms Wong Lee Lin, Sembcorp Marine Executive Vice President and Head of Repairs & Upgrades, explained: “The Semb-Eco LUV BWMS is a non-chemical system with low power requirements, currently undergoing further testing to verify its USCG compliance. For ships with ballast pump flow rates of 500m3 per hour, the Semb-Eco system needs less than 30kW of power, while conventional UV systems require more than 100kW for the same treatment capacity.”
Ms Wong also pointed out the division between those shipowners who are looking to install the system as soon as possible, and those wanting to delay. “Some shipowners have decided to make their vessels compliant and are now actively working on the selection and procurement of the appropriate BWMS equipment as well as on preparation for retrofit installations – either at sea or in shipyards.
“Conversely, there are also shipowners who have taken the approach of docking their vessels early, before entry into force of the regulations, to avoid having to install the BWMS on the ships till the next IOPP certification survey.
“Sembcorp Marine sees good opportunities in working with both groups.”
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