Moves to standardise control panels for Ballast Water Treatment Systems are being stepped-up as final ratification of the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) worldwide convention approaches. Ian Hamilton, BWTS project leader at marine electrical wiring control and instrumentation specialists CMR Group, explains more.
All vessels involved in international voyages are required to manage their ballast water and sediments under the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments (BWM Convention), adopted by the IMO in 2004. This requires a reduction in the concentration of aquatic organisms in ballast water to below certain levels (D-2 Standard) before discharge in order to prevent trans-boundary movement of harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens that unmanaged ballast water discharge may cause.
This year is likely to see the IMO’s Ballast Water Management (BWM) convention ratified, which will have a significant impact on the marine sector. In particular, the US Coastguard’s approval of the new standards are being seen as a major big step towards the final implementation of the regulations – it is estimated that more than 60,000 vessels worldwide, including 5,000 oil tankers, will need to be retro-fitted with BWTS to ensure compliance.
But when it comes to specifying BWTS there are different considerations facing new build vessels and existing ships. Yards need to identify the options for installing ballast water treatment systems in original specifications – both within the construction programme or through retrofitting. This, as advised by Lloyd’s Register, may involve providing system drawings to show how a selection of different treatment options could be fitted, ensuring that sufficient space has been allocated for retrofitting treatment systems if they are not included in the initial build. Service connections should also be fitted to ballast systems in preparation for retrofitting of the selected treatment equipment.
For existing vessels, operators will need to be aware of all modifications necessary to fit systems, and it could be necessary to obtain schematic arrangements and equipment drawings from the system supplier in order for the technical department to develop a work plan. This may alternatively be provided by the supplier but the ship operator will still need to provide the vessel’s ballast water system drawings, functional requirements and details of compartmental spaces where the equipment is to be fitted.
Selecting a treatment system should involve a number of key steps to ensure success. The first is to consider initial aspects such as vessel type and characteristics, ballast capacity and flow rate requirements before moving onto technical and operational considerations. These include the time required for treatment to be effective, ballast and treatment pumping rates, characteristics of ballast system, health and safety, in-service operational requirements, explosion proof equipment (particularly apposite for oil tankers), power requirements and onboard systems, controls and alarms, and space constraints.
The key to compliance is to adopt a modular approach – close co-operation with OEMs to modularise and standardise control panels. This can reduce costs, and cut delivery manufacturing lead times, allowing OEMs to focus on core components such as the UV lamps or Chlorination while taking advantage of standard parts and consistent pricing as they build their BWTS.
New approach
Following ratification, the BWTS market will grow significantly which in turn, is likely to create an extremely competitive market for associated technologies and allied systems. So panel control standardisation, and the capacity to cut delivery times, will be critical factors in the battle to secure sales.
Standardised panel systems are being developed with OEMs, simplifying the process from specification to final delivery, contributing to improving BWTS time-to-market. CMR’s new modular approach for Ballast Water Treatment Systems (BWTS) and marine control panels, Goldfinch, is an engineering process based around standard and modular panels which enable OEMs to expand and improve their offering through reduced lead times and cost savings.
Adopting something like Goldfinch reduces time-to-market lead times by 75% when compared to traditional systems, delivering savings of upwards of thousands of dollars per project. Furthermore, it enables OEMs to select Marine Classification compliant modular and standard control panel parts and technologies which can be tailored to individual requirements, simplifying the whole process from initial technical specification to final delivery of completed units.
Shared working in partnership will be important to expanding BWTS OEMs’ offering and maximising sales potential. After all, if it’s beneficial for one, then it could be advantageous for all OEMs working alongside companies such as CMR, who can build common types of panels which ultimately aids industry standardisation.
By Ian Hamilton, BWTS Project Leader at CMR Group
The views presented hereabove are only those of the author and not necessarily those of GREEN4SEA and are for information sharing and discussion purposes only.
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Ian Hamilton is the sales manager for marine electrical wiring control and instrumentation specialists CMR UK. He is a specialist in creating and delivering new business diversification strategies and has a wealth of experience in engineering businesses with previous positions held including managing director and sales director. His role within CMR is to identify and acquire new business opportunities specifically but not exclusively in the marine and energy markets. This includes leading the global ballast water treatment systems’ team, where he is playing a pivotal role in the development of a range of value added solutions, alongside work in the development of new products for the wind turbine and monitoring markets.
