USC says all its shipyards are ready to install ballast water treatment systems on any vessels (photo)
All shipyards of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) are ready to install ballast water treatment systems on any vessels, IAA PortNews correspondent cites Vladimir Rachin, head of the Sea Transport Programme board, Civil Shipbuilding Department, USC, as saying at the conference "Implementation of the BWMC in Russia” organized by Media Group PortNews with the assistance of the Russian Ministry of Transport.
“All USC shipyards are ready to install ballast water treatment systems on vessels if such a system is designed and supplied. The installation costs should be included into the contract price”, said USC representative adding that installation of BWTS presents no technical problems.
According to him, USC installs such systems on all vessels that are under construction today, except for a series of nuclear-powered icebreakers which are supposed to be used only on the Northern Sea Route.
Among the manufacturers supplying BWTS to USC shipyards Vladimir Rachin mentioned Alfa Laval, Wärtsilä, Hyde Marine and Marcon West.
“So, there is quite a diverse range of BWTS suppliers within the Corporation. That should be attributed to absence of sufficient statistics today allowing for designers and customers to select a manufacturer basing on visually compelling price and quality criteria,” explained the speaker.
When speaking about BWTS installation costs, Vladimir Rachin said the if a vessel is designed with consideration of BWTS, the construction costs increase is limited by the price of the system itself.
The Ballast Water Management Convention (BWMC 2004) will enter into force on September 8, 2017. The BWMC was adopted in order to prevent or minimize the spread of harmful aquatic organisms from one region to another, by establishing standards and procedures for the management and control of ships' ballast water and sediments
Under the Convention, the ports and terminals where cleaning or repair of ballast tanks occurs, are required to have adequate reception facilities for the reception of sediments, taking into account relevant guidelines of IMO. All possible efforts shall be made at such treatment facilities to avoid a ship being unduly detained or delayed. Besides, the sediment reception facilities shall take such steps as will ensure that the ship shall not discharge Ballast Water until it can do so without presenting a threat of harm to the environment, human health, property or resources.
United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC OJSC) is the largest shipbuilding company in Russia. It was set up in 2007 with 100% federal ownership. The holding comprises 60 companies and organizations (major shipbuilding and shiprepairing companies as well as leading design bureaus). Currently, USC consolidates about 80% of the domestic shipbuilding complex. The Russian market is the main focus of the state corporation though it also exports its products to 20 countries worldwide.
All conference materials in Russian and in English are available at the office of the event organizers, IAA PortNews. Requests should be submitted to snitko@portnews.ru.
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Photos from the Conference “Implementation of the BWMC in Russia”>>>>
