Major VLCC contract for OceanSaver

The DSIC VLCC contract follows recent OceanSaver BWM system orders with Hyundai Heavy Industries for two high-spec Suezmax crude-oil tankers and six VLCCs at the Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Company in China. To date, OceanSaver has won BWM system contracts for 17 vessels, all of them large tankers.

“OceanSaver’s innovative BWM system is becoming globally recognized by ship owners and shipyards as the best BWM solution particularly in the larger and more complex tonnage segments,” says Stein Foss, ceo, OceanSaver.

“Our clients have found out that not only are our BWM systems designed and engineered for each application on ships, but the solutions are innovative and revolutionary themselves and more suitable for ships compared to most competitors which mainly are deriving from industrial water treatment applications,” says Foss.

As of 8 July this year, 26 (25% of the world’s tonnage) of 30 possible flag states have ratified the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments adopted in 2004. The convention mandates all ships carrying ballast water to meet the Ballast Water performance standard by the year 2016.

“We are seeing that forward thinking ship owners are looking for trusted BWM technologies. In the future, some ships may not be allowed into ports because they have waited too long to comply with the Convention,” says Foss.

According to Foss, Far East and Asian shipyards are at the forefront in securing the right BWM configuration for their clients. “Weekly, we receive a number of inquiries from non-European shipyards to provide a comprehensive set of offerings for BWM system requirements. OceanSaver BWM systems maximize the ballast performance of large vessels. For example, our system can ballast and de-ballast some 6,000 m³ of water per hour and can be installed in gas hazardous areas. There is no other system in the market that can match the overall performance of OceanSaver,” says Foss.

OceanSaver BWM system meets one of the strictest and most complex compliance procedures of the IMO and other approval authorities. In addition, it has the potential to meet the California Performance Standards, governing ballast water management requirements for vessels over 300 gross registered tons.

Pioneers in BWM technology, OceanSaver believes that it has developed the best solution to meet the operational demands of large tonnage, and ship owners are requesting systems that can be installed as part of an approved ballast water management plan.

According to Foss, one of the main reasons for OceanSaver being chosen yet again was not price, but technology and OceanSaver’s position as a one-stop shop for total BWM delivery and support for large vessels.

There are a number of BWM systems on the market, but the majority lack long-term components and systems testing. With most BWM technologies available designed for medium to low-capacity systems, few existing technologies are suitable for larger vessels or complex tonnage, such as tankers, chemical carriers or gas carriers.