This summer the InvaSave crew teamed up with local service provider Tradebe Santander to receive ballast water from a tanker in Gijon. What appears to be a simple exercise has significant ramifications for all operational vessels – particularly older builds, Damen said.
As the IMO’s Ballast Water Convention will be extended to cover existing vessels in addition to newbuilds, vessel owners must address their processes for taking on or discharging ballast water. By the time of their first IOPP certificate renewal following last Sunday’s deadline, all vessels are required to meet IMO D2 standards regarding ballast water treatment.
to this requirement,” claimed Damen Green’s Matthijs Schuiten, “meeting market demand without causing operational delays. If a vessel is unable to discharge its ballast water, the loss of income through downtime, compounded by additional port costs, has a huge impact on the vessel owner’s bottom line. The efficiency of InvaSave’s model also potentially saves owners months of downtime waiting for a retrofit.”
Damen has been offering the InvaSave solution for over five years, launching the InvaSave 300 in 2017 and improving its functionality in preparation for the introduction of this latest legislation. Following successful demonstrations of its capability in Lisbon on 16th and 17th May this year, this latest exercise in Gijon provides final confirmation that InvaSave is ready and able to help vessel owners adapt to the latest regulatory demands, the company said.
The InvaSave 300 IMO-certified system is an external ballast water treatment unit that in a single pass uses mechanical filtration and ultraviolet radiation to remove and eradicate invasive organisms from ballast water as it is discharged from inbound vessels, to IMO D2 standards. InvaSave can also provide ballast water of the same quality to outbound vessels.
Damen Green Solutions uses these reception functions to further train clients and Damen staff in the ballast water reception service operation. The entire system comes in a single, 40ft container and thus is fully mobile; ideal for placing on a barge, workboat or trailer for easy movement around a port, harbour or shipyard, the company said.
Meanwhile the US Coast Guard’s Marine Safety Centre has issued the 21st USCG BWMS Type Approval certificate.
This was awarded to COSCO Shipbuilding Industry and its subsidiary, COSCO (Weihai) Shipbuilding Marine Technology, after a detailed review of the manufacturer’s type approval application determined the system met the requirements of 46 CFR 162.060.
The treatment principle of the Blue Ocean Shield (BOS) BWMS consists of filtration with UV treatment during uptake and discharge. This approval covers models with maximum treatment rated capabilities between 100 cu m and 3,200 cu m per hour.