In March, the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) released the 2019 Best Practices for Operations of Ballast Water Management Systems Report, a culmination of feedback from shipowners and operators over a span of two years.
The report reviews the “industry’s progress toward compliance and identified best practices that supported successful BWMS installation and operation.” BWMS operational reliability was recognized as growing problem based on a history of system failures and the heightened enforcement of BWM compliance.
Some of the reliability issues addressed in the report were “the use of unreliable or non-OEM equipment or components (filters, sensors, sampling pumps, valves, actuators, electrolytic cell assemblies, dosing sub-systems, UV reactors, etc.).”
Other common problems included: “fluctuating and unstable TRO sensor and monitor readings that are sensitive to environmental conditions…; frequent outages and replacement of UV lamps and clogging of filters that require frequent or continuous back-flushing operations…; [the] inability to operate EC-based BWMS in freshwater or low salinity water conditions, requiring alternative arrangements to carry salt water or brine solutions…; and, predicting low UV transmittance challenges (affecting all UV-based BWMS) caused by weather (seasonal) or other variables… .”
Overall, as summarized from 487 installations using seven BWMS treatment technologies on a variety of vessel types ─ 65% were either inoperable or had problematic ballast operations and only 25% ballasted regularly with a testing protocol for efficacy in place.
Engineering for Reliability
The ability of BWMSs to operate reliably over the lifetime of the vessel is not something that happens by accident. In fact, reliability comes down to the choices that engineers make when designing a BWMS. It’s no secret that minimizing equipment failure and maximizing long-life means using high quality components in the build and simplifying the system operation.
“When we consider equipment design, the first criteria we look at is quality. We work with our supplier network and our customers so that we have the relevant operational data to ensure that the equipment will hold up to our strict durability and endurance standards,” says Leif Melhus, Ecochlor’s Engineering Manager.
This attention to detail has a downside in increased costs, with final system prices that could be a little higher than the lowest market expectations. Melhus counters this by adding, “While cost is a consideration, it is not the primary factor when we are choosing components. This means that sometimes our production costs might be a bit more, but we know that our customers will see the benefit of the choices we make through increased reliability and the dependability of the Ecochlor BWMS to operate for years to come. This ‘engineered reliability’ ensures that our customers maintain compliance with the ballast discharge standards.”
“The Ecochlor system was built to last the life of the vessel,” shared Tom Perlich, Ecochlor founder. In 2006, we retrofitted the Moku Pahu, a U.S. flag, Jones Act bulk carrier with a route from Hawaii to San Francisco. With ballast operations in California, this vessel encountered some of the strictest regulations in the world. For 13 years this ship ran ballast operations using the original installed system until her last voyage in January of this year. As our longest continuously operated BWMS we enjoyed not only a highly collaborative relationship with the crew but also the ability to gather valuable data on the system’s components over the years. That experience has been fed right back into the systems that we deliver to customers today.”