Things appear to be moving fast on the ballast front with MRPC 70 in October looking increasingly likely as the stage for Finland to ratify the treaty following the vote in late June by the Finnish Government to accept the treaty. It is still possible that this week’s IMO Council meeting could also be an option.
Finland is estimated to have the required 0.13% of gross tonnage of the world fleet necessary to put the IMO convention into place and that would mean it coming into full effect in late 2017 assuming of course that the make-up of the world fleet by flag does not change materially from the position in May this year. The fact that the Marshall Islands’ is apparently the world’s fastest growing register could also be a factor in the ballast story because it along with Liberia are signatories whilst Panama is still not.
Meanwhile there are developments too in the US where despite a treatment regulation having been in place for some time, no ballast water treatment system has yet achieved type approval. Last week, Norwegian maker Optimarin reported that it had completed all shore and ship testing for its system using the CMFDA/FDA method sometimes referred to as the vital stain method. Optimarin CEO, Tore Andersen told ShipInsight that the company will be depositing the application for type approval with the USCG soon and is hoping for certification before the end of the year.
In anticipation of a break in the logjam in the retrofit market, Andersen said that Optimarin would also begin testing for the same system with different filter models to ensure that capacity could be ramped up if necessary. The company is hoping that an early US type approval for the system will allow it to take a significant stake in the sectors it has targeted.
Meanwhile, another manufacturer, Alfa Laval, has said that it also is on track to submit a USCG type approval application for its PureBallast 3.1 system in the coming weeks. The company has successfully completed all required land-based tests using the current system design and to the vital stain testing method. All testing was conducted at DHI in Denmark using the same hardware, power consumption and flow as the already IMO-approved version of the system.
There are around 20 systems undergoing or planned to undergo testing for US type approval with a number reported to be near completion. Although it is possible that the USCG will issue type approvals as individual systems complete testing and submit documentation, some observers believe that the USCG will initially hold back announcing approval until a number of systems have made successful applications.
Read about the various manufacturers by downloading the In Depth Guide at the following link,
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