BWT systems face quality assurance risk

This is 10,000 more than expected for each of the years before that date and is largely attributable to the requirement for vessels with large ballast capacities to comply with the convention by their first intermediate or renewal survey from 2016.

“A bottleneck such as this in the supply of systems and the availability of shipyards could have disastrous effects for shipowners and tankers and bulkers with ballast capacities exceeding 5,000m³ will be among the hardest hit,” says Stein Foss, CEO of OceanSaver.

“The pressure for engineers and shipyards to design and install systems quickly raises obvious quality concerns but the issues go beyond that. Will the manufacturers themselves have the experience required to adequately support this demand? Will the quality of their staff and their control of their supply-chain suffer if their capacity is stretched?”

Filters are just one example where any slight deterioration in standards can result in serious efficacy problems that could affect the performance of the treatment system as a whole. Many systems, particularly those using UV radiation, rely in the effective filtration of sediment and larger organisms prior to the main disinfecting process.

Foss has planned for the pitfalls that an installation bottleneck could create and is already implementing production capacity for the OceanSaver ballast water treatment system to meet the expected growth in the number of orders. The OceanSaver system employs filtration, cavitation, oxygen removal via nitrogen super-saturation and disinfection. It does not contain or use any substances that pose a risk to the marine environment and it is designed to last the lifetime of the vessel. The use of robust ISO-certified components is said to minimise the risk of high after-service maintenance costs.

Nitrogen super-saturation is claimed to offer reduced maintenance costs for ballast water tanks. OceanSaver says that comprehensive independent corrosion and coating impact studies have confirmed that use of the system results in reduced corrosion rates and compliance with the intentions of the IMO Performance Standard for Protective Coatings (PSPC).

Type approval was granted to OceanSaver by DNV on behalf of the Norwegian Flag State Authority in April 2009 and a review by the California State Lands Commission has shown that the system is suitable for the stricter requirements that may be set regionally in the US.