Ship owners drive down BWMS costs
On a recent visit to Vancouver, three owners reported progress on bringing down the cost of compliance.
Containership owner and manager Seaspan Corporation has been operating ballast water management systems under joint industry projects with system manufacturers for the past five years, helping suppliers to develop their units, CEO Peter Curtis told The Motorship. The company currently operates such ‘beta-type’ retrofitted units on four vessels.
Curtis said: “It’s a case of us learning what we need – will one work across the whole fleet, are some better for retrofitting and are some more prone to technical issues? Bulk carriers and tankers have a bigger problem as containerships don’t change draft as much, so we’ve been able to downsize what we have to retrofit quite substantially – they don’t need to operate to the full capacity of two ballast pumps but partial capacity on one pump. That’s a huge change.”
Seaspan has at least eight vessels targeted for delivery next year, ranging in size from 10,000 teu to 14,000 teu, all of which will be delivered with BWMS installed, Curtis reported. The company is also working with system manufacturers to ensure that the units are compliant with US Coast Guard standards, and Curtis said that Seaspan has received “some guarantees” from providers that they will gain type approval.
Peter Amat, general manager of Hong Kong-based Pacific Basin Shipping’s Vancouver operation, acknowledged the greater challenges faced by bulk carriers. But he reported that the company’s technical division, responsible for a fleet of 200 handysize and supramax dry bulk carriers, had been steadily reducing the projected costs of installing systems. Newbuilds are now being designed with space to accommodate the units, Amat said.
Despite progress on costs, for some operators there remains a decision to be taken on the investment case, particularly for older vessels. Speaking off the record, another large bulk carrier operator told The Motorship that the current low valuation of second-hand ships and the low cost of building new vessels meant that the company was having to weigh up whether to scrap some vessels early rather than spend what may be well in excess of US$1 million to comply with ballast water regulations.
