Operational demands focus BWT market on future compliance

Alfa Laval has replaced over 250 BWT systems from 30 different manufacturers over the last two years. It’s just one example of how the market is changing as compliance checking is expected to ramp up this year.

Independent consultant Giles Candy of Giles Environmental sees retrofits occurring after some systems, idle for years, are found to be inoperable. “Though BWT systems have been installed on vessels for well over a decade, the requirement to use them is new. Bringing a long installed BWT systems back to life is a challenge for owners, crews and manufacturers.

“Getting crew which are new to a system trained up is a challenge – particularly when the manufacturer is now seeing a receding market and is reducing not increasing resources. However, it should be noted several manufacturers have invested in training resources including online assistance, remote training and training centers – and some owners are investing crew time in these resources but it is not universal. A successful BWT system is a high-performance system that requires correct operation and proper maintenance.”

The IMO’s Experience Building Phase was intended to provide a buffer between initial BWT system operations and compliance enforcement, but it has largely been ignored, says Candy. “What data has been seen consistently shows 30-50% of discharges are out of compliance biologically and most chlorination systems are chlorinating the bay on discharge. What should happen now? Widespread discharge assessments (not detailed analysis) should be completed for some time without fines but with some degree of public availability of results.

“To succeed, the ballast water laws require the expectation that a vessel will comply with the ballast water laws. The 20 years of success owners have had at delaying and now avoiding being held to the standards of the laws will have to end.”

While the operation of systems in challenging waters has been a key issue raised, Candy notes that the water today is no more challenging than it was in 2004 when the convention was adopted. “It is absolutely no surprise that a legally certified BWT system tested at legal minimum, 50mg/l TSS and 100,000 zooplankton per m3, falls flat on its face when faced with real world conditions of 1,000 mg/l TSS and 2,000,000 zooplankton per m3. The owner is using the wrong BWT system in the wrong environment. There is no underlying reason to waive the rules.

Obeying the rules

“The solution is very simple: have an expectation of compliance and a meaningful cost for non-compliance. Once ballast water laws are enforced, systems only capable of compliance in the Caribbean would not be stalling out ballasting operations in Rotterdam, Shanghai or Hamburg. Systems with weak neutralization units would not be discharging active substances in ports throughout the world. Also, owners would have a stronger hand with shipyards on BWT system choice, and manufacturers would be incentivized to increase the capability of their products instead of removing costs and components at every turn.”

Last year, INTERTANKO opened its Ports with Challenging Water Quality Database to non-members in a bid to increase understanding of the issues. The database is anticipated to aid ships in their due diligence and voyage planning preparation and facilitate communication with both port state control authorities and flag administrations.

“We are asking all owners to get involved,” said INTERTANKO’s Will Sturdy at the time. “This tool can help to clear the muddy waters in ballast water management operation and enforcement in ports with challenging water quality. Increasing the dataset will also allow the industry and regulators to get a clearer picture of the scale of the problem and allow better decision making onboard and at the port.”

Jad Mouawad, CEO of Mouawad Consulting, says that in most cases of challenging water quality, proper maintenance and crew training have resulted in BWM systems being in good working condition. “At least this is our experience, and we do this work on a daily basis. I think focusing on hands-on training onboard accompanied with maintenance and calibration will solve most of the problems experienced. Only then we can find out how big the challenging water quality problem really is.

“What is not a solution is accepting that a ship has installed a BWM system, tried its best to make it work and if an alarm pops up, the ship gets an exemption. This seems to be trending with some of the delegations at the IMO, and I oppose this simplistic approach completely. It is at best naïve and undermines the goals of the Convention. We cannot have a race to the bottom by promoting the installation of BWT systems with very little operational range and then just give an exemption to the ships when those BWT system don’t do the job.”

Mouawad says the rise of filterless BWT systems is a dangerous trend that is avoiding solving the problem of challenging water. “Instead of actually treating the water that is challenging, we simply remove the only component that is dealing with the problem (the filter dealing with TSS and large organisms) and hope that the problem disappears. It will not. What will happen is that we will not have the same possibility to find out if the discharges are compliant or not (since almost no one tests ballast water during discharge and the tests available, indicative, are not quality approved according to the relevant IMO standard). The same challenging water will remain challenging only we will not have a clogging filter to deal with, we will just let untreated water, or water with potentially dangerous and undetected or unassessed disinfectant by-products be discharged.”

A review of the Ballast Water Management Convention is ongoing, and it is set to be finalized in the fall of 2026. Tobias Döscher (pictured), head of global sales, business development and marketing, Alfa Laval PureBallast, notes a new requirement has been agreed for biological efficacy testing (compliance sampling) to be undertaken as part of intermediate and renewal surveys as well as an annual sampling of residual active substances to confirm that the discharge water does not exceed the maximum allowed discharge concentration (MADC). MADC (for systems using active substances) will also be included as part of the discharge standard (D-2) that previously only covered organisms.

“There will most likely be new requirements to the ballast water management plan e.g. to include a maintenance schedule and a procedure for safe ballast water exchange. Amendments to specify the circumstances under which the discharge of unmanaged or partially managed ballast water and sediments may be allowed on the high seas or in any other designated areas are expected to come. New requirements for crew familiarization/training with regard to the BWT systems are also expected.

“Procedures for type approval of BWT systems and port state control inspections are among other topics to be assessed and potentially improved/specified during the next phases of the Convention review.”

Market Shift

Meanwhile, the equipment manufacturing industry has been preparing for a market shift. Tore Andersen, executive vice president sales & marketing at Optimarin, says: “The retrofit market has largely matured, leaving aftersales service and newbuilding projects as the primary focus for manufacturers. In recent years, we’ve seen significant changes in the industry, including mergers and acquisitions, as companies adapt to the evolving landscape.”

Last year Optimarin, for example, took on the Hyde Marine Filter UV brand from DeNora, and De Nora discontinued its Filter Electrolysis brand. Similarly, ERMA First purchased Ecochlor.

Alfa Laval introduced a new system last year in response to industry concerns about challenging water. PureBallast 3 Ultra features a new filter design that reduces the risk of filter clogging. Several of the filter improvements, such as a faster gear motor that improves backflushing efficiency, are also available as an upgrade for existing PureBallast 3 systems.

For Jean-Philippe Picard de Muller, aftersales director at BIO-UV Group, the focus is now squarely on after-sales service. Long-term maintenance contracts, annual training programs, and remote monitoring solutions are all part of the new playbook. BIO-UV Group, for instance, recently secured a three-year service agreement with a major French shipowner covering 10 vessels in its 100+ fleet.

Diversification is also underway. “We’re looking at leveraging our water treatment expertise into adjacent maritime applications, such as potable water, pool water onboard ship and mobile/portable BWT systems for port use,” he says. “These represent potential growth areas.”

An indicator of this growing trend is that the Ballast Water Equipment Manufacturers Association is now the Ballast Water and Environmental Manufacturers Association.