Turkish tanker owner orders ballast water management systems

Valued at NOK 25 million, the Gungen BWM agreement follows OceanSaver’s six VLCC BWM system deal with Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Company just four weeks ago and now increases OceanSaver’s total order book up to NOK 200 million.

The Gungen contract covers the supply of two 2,500 m3/h BWM systems to be located inside the Zone 0 area of the tanker pump room. Zone 0 represents the strictest gas hazardous class as gas or vapour may be present. Electrical equipment and cables installed in hazardous areas shall be limited to that necessary for operational purposes and all installations in hazardous areas shall comply with the requirements of DNV.

Most BWM systems need powering of the treatment plant by electricity and the full plant is usually required installed in alignment with the ballast water pipeline. This simply makes it impossible for many BWM systems to meet safety requirements and hence class approval for installation in tanker pump rooms and other gas hazardous areas.

“OceanSaver’s unique design features an ‘Approval in Principle’ for gas hazardous areas – issued by DNV – which is incorporated into the type approval. OceanSaver is a fully approved solution without any limitation to ships with gas hazardous areas,” says Stein Foss, ceo OceanSaver.

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.

“Some BWM systems grow exponentially in size as the ballast volume and pump capacity increases. OceanSaver is more flexible than most others. With only two components needing to be aligned with the ballast water pipeline, the system can be installed wherever there is space onboard. There is no linear growth in terms of footprint and cost,” says Foss.

OceanSaver systems can technically handle any capacity from 40 to 10,000 tonnes or more of ballast water per hour without any delay in ballasting operations. The Gungen contract is a comprehensive package including engineering and the support from specialist equipment advisors and environmental specialists in addition to the system itself.