Damen Shipyards Group has unveiled a Ballast Water Pre Filtration Barge (BWPF) to assist vessels in complying with the IMO’s Ballast Water Management Convention, the company said in its release. The new legislation came into force on September 8th this year and Damen Green Solutions has prepared a range of products and services to assist its clients in meeting the requirements of the new legislation.
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. Damen Green Solutions product portfolio manager Matthijs Schuiten explains, “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. We recently ran tests on a waterway in the US close to a harbour, for example, and found sediment levels 30 times above this.”
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,” Matthijs continues. “This can make for huge operational challenges, preventing cargo unloading or ballast water intake.”
Damen’s answer is the new BWPF Barge, 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. With the IMO legislation’s passage into law, we expect to see demand for such services in the near future. Developing the BWPF Barge is Damen’s way of making sure that, when the need arises, we are prepared to respond quickly.”
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, making logistics straightforward.
Damen Shipyards Group operates 36 shipbuilding and repair yards, employing 12,000 people worldwide. Damen has delivered more than 6,500 vessels in more than 100 countries and delivers around 175 vessels annually to customers worldwide. Based on its unique, standardised ship-design concept Damen is able to guarantee consistent quality.
Damen’s focus on standardisation, modular construction and keeping vessels in stock leads to short delivery times, low ‘total cost of ownership’, high resale values and reliable performance. Furthermore, Damen vessels are based on thorough R&D and proven technology.
Damen offers a wide range of products, including tugs, workboats, naval and patrol vessels, high speed craft, cargo vessels, dredgers, vessels for the offshore industry, ferries, pontoons and superyachts.
For nearly all vessel types Damen offers a broad range of services, including maintenance, spare parts delivery, training and the transfer of (shipbuilding) know-how. Damen also offers a variety of marine components, such as nozzles, rudders, winches, anchors, anchor chains and steel works.
Damen Shiprepair & Conversion (DSC) has a worldwide network of eighteen repair and conversion yards of which twelve are located in North West Europe. Facilities at the yards include more than 50 floating (and covered) drydocks, including the longest, 420 x 80 metres, and the widest, 405 x 90 metres, as well as slopes, ship lifts and indoor halls. Projects range from the smallest simple repairs through Class’ maintenance to complex refits and the complete conversion of large offshore structures. DSC completes around 1,300 repair and maintenance jobs annually, both at yards as well as in ports and during voyage.