Helping vessels comply with ballast water regs

The Ballast Water Pre Filtration Barge (BWPF) is one product available in an extensive range from Damen Shipyards Green Solutions designed to meet the requirements of the Ballast Water Convention, which came into effect in September 2019.

Damen Green Solutions product portfolio manager Matthijs Schuiten, said: “Many ports located on rivers throughout the world experience a sediment level significantly higher than the level onboard ballast water treatment systems are tested to.”

“The level to which onboard systems are tested demonstrates an ability to handle sediment levels up to 50 mg per litre. However, at some terminals, this level is exceeded – sometimes considerably.”

Sediment woes

Mr Schuiten explained that Damen recently ran tests on a waterway in the US close to a harbour and found sediment levels 30 times above this.”

He said that notable cases of important waterways that exceed the level to which onboard systems are tested include the Huangpu Jiang in Shanghai, the River Thames in London and the Red and Mississippi rivers in the US.

“Such high levels of sediment can cause ballast water filter blockage,” he said. “This can make for huge operational challenges, preventing cargo unloading or ballast water intake.”

The barge is designed to go alongside a vessel at terminal and filter the sediment before ballast water is taken aboard.

Pre-filtering the water in this manner ensures the ballast water system onboard is not blocked due to sediment. Having such capabilities enables terminals to add value with an additional service for calling vessels.

The BWPF Barge can process up to 4,000 m3 water per hour with a sediment level anything between 50 and 1,500 mg per litre. Filtration is available between 10 and 50 micron, to suit varying sediment sizes. The entire ballast water filtration system fits neatly inside a standard 40’ container.