CEO calls for a responsible approach to BWT marketing

Marshall, speaking at Coldharbour’s head office near Derby in the UK said: “ There are a number of BWT system vendors in the market at the moment who, instead of concentrating on the merits of their own systems, have chosen to try to sell their products by attacking their competitors. This is neither professional nor responsible. Fabrications, lies and misrepresentations do nothing to foster customer confidence in the industry and are entirely unhelpful to customers looking to select the most appropriate technologies for their own vessels. ”

Coldharbours own unique in-tank BWT system is expected to complete its certification process during 2011, following successful late summer 2010 testing at NIOZ in the Netherlands.

One size does not fit all

Marshall continues: “We believe that no one technology will be suitable for all types of vessels and so we have optimised our solution specifically for our target customer base (large tankers and bulkers). We absolutely would not criticise other technologies targeting other sectors. In fact we frequently recommend competitor systems to our customers when appropriate so to do.”

He believes that this is how the industry should operate and is confident that other responsible BWT companies feel the same way.

“Over the past 12 months I have met with senior people from a number of BWT companies and we are all saying pretty much the same thing. However there are one or two companies out there that seem to think that lies, attacks and misrepresentations about their competitors will secure them market share. Unfortunately for them it’s having the opposite effect, as customers are recognising these desperate tactics for precisely what they are”

Code of conduct

Marshall believes that the industry should adopt a professional code of conduct when it comes to system sales and has also expressed a desire to see the formation of an official BWT industry representative body.

“Ballast water treatment represents a major investment by the shipping sector over the next 5 or 6 years. It is a complex technical issue and customers must be able to analyse all the facts including cost of equipment, ease of installation, maintenance costs, running costs and operational suitability as part of their system selection process. Our customers are not fools and they certainly do not need to be treated as such by some vendors”.