Challenges surrounding the adoption of ballast water management systems have not really changed but
several subtle differences and the best way of dealing with the changes were highlighted by Intertanko deputy md, Joe Angelo, the keynote speaker at the Ballast Water Management Summit, held June 9 as part of the Posidonia 2016 conference programme.
Organised by Naftiliaki / Newsfront, under the auspices of Greece’s Marine Technical Managers Association (MARTECMA), the summit attracted some 350 delegates representing 179 companies from 26 countries.
Angelo noted Imo is now re-calculating the tonnage requirements for ratification of the Ballast Water Management Convention (BWMC) on a monthly basis. The most recent figures for June indicate the percentage of the world's gt that would be included for the ratification was at 34.83%. While this figure does not seem like much of a change from the previous one, said Angelo, the key point is that two countries are "extremely close" to ratifying, Peru and Finland, which have 0.04% and 0.14% gt respectively.
Indeed, Peru has since ratified and with Finland the balance would be tipped to a total of 35.01%. "If this moves the way Imo thinks it will, both of those countries are expected to ratify the treaty some time this month, which means it could very well come into force one year from June," Angelo warned.
Given these variables, Angelo suggested a sensible course of action for shipowners would be to firstly research all the ballast water management system manufacturers and the available technologies appropriate for their vessels, as well as secure shipyard slot availability for when you might most likely need it for the installation process and start scheduling ahead of time.
The event featured a couple of speakers presented thinking outside the box. Nikolaos Kakalis, DNV GL’s manager for r&d and advisory, South East Europe & Middle East, addressed the ballast-free ship concept designs at the Ballast Water Management Summit.
He said such concepts offered key advantages and talked of the such concepts promise and the barriers for entry. He outlined the main characteristics of DNV GL’s Triality VLCC and the momentum ballast-free concepts, as well as the reduced-ballast Ecore bulk carrier, high-lighting the estimated energy efficiency increase of each one.
“Although there are no technological barriers against building such designs, we are still far from seeing them in real practice”, said Kakalis. “However, we need to continue working towards innovation, in particular in the current market conditions. We should explore ideas and concepts which could break the mould to come up with sustainable designs which comply with up-coming regulations while ensuring safety, operability, and cost-competitiveness,” he concluded.
In another presentation of thinking out side the box Nobu Su’s patent Hybrid Ship was discussed. The chairman of TMT has developed a hybrid technology that enables vessels to sail with conventionally driven main propeller and an electrically driven duct propeller. The combination allows for reduced fuel consumption, particularly when a vessel is travelling with minimum ballast. .
Su maintains the technology will help tackle problems associated with the transfer of harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens through ballast water. With the Hybrid Ship technology, a vessel requires minimum ballast water, and therefore reduces the risk of water contamination.
Like DNV GL’s Gregory Kazantzis and ABS’ Stamatis Fradelos, a number of speakers referred to the lack of information as to how systems perform. There is little information abou installed equipment noted Kazantzis, while Fradelos said complying with regulations “is complex” and “there is a need for more guidance”,
Charalampos Anastasakis, of Lloyd’s Register talked about the challenges of retrofitting, while RINA’s Stefanos Chatzinikolaou described the role of classification in the implementation of the BWM convention, covering plan approval, commissioning and testing and John Kokarakis, of Bureau Veritas, addressed the issue of BW sampling, which presents a number of challenges.
Not surprisingly, retrofitting is a concern for the Liberian Registry, and its vice president, Christian Mollitor, outlined these concerns. “We have seen many problems, and the older the vessels the bigger the problem,” said explaining why the registry and Class NK put a proposal to IMO MEPC 69 last April regarding these concerns and a possible solution on the retrofitting of BWMS.
Eight manufacturers of BWMS gave brief presentations of their individual technologies describing the various upgrades and changes and special features needed to be incorporated in the various systems on order to acquire USCG final approval. All referred to their present status regarding approval, while elaborating on manuals, training and procedural changes which were requested by the USCG and the US’ EPA.
All gave client references, the number of systems sold and the number actually commissioned. They discussed feedback and operational problems and how these problems were solved.
Nearly five hours of presentations, discussions and some debate, the summit underlined the importance of the event as Martecma chairman, Dimitrios A Heliotis, remarked in his closing: "After over four hours of discussion more clouds fill the sky regarding ballast water, leaving more questions than answers."