Ballast Water Management Convention

From the 1980's onwards, Canada and the United States expressed concerns about the existence and effects of indigenous organisms through ballast waters. In the ensuing years, numerous discussions took place which finally culminated with the adoption of a new "International Convention for the Control and Management of Ship's Ballast Water and Sediments" (Convention) in February 2004.
In order to meet the water quality standards required by the Convention at the time of discharge of ballast water, installation of BWMS for onboard management of ballast water are required. After the convention entry into force, the BWMS should be onboard by Renewal Survey of International Oil Pollution Prevention Certificate (IOPP), and the convention will apply to all ships including existing ships engaged in international voyages. There are several problems for existing ships in particular that need to be solved for shipowners, such as consideration of space for maintaining the system and docking, amongst other technical concerns.

At present, many BWMS have complied with G8 approval (Flag State) required by the Convention. However, each system utilizes different measures: such as UV irradiation, electroysis, chemicals, gas, magnetic separation, and combination of filters to remove large debris and organisms.
Ballast water management is normally carried out during ballasting. However, some kinds of systems must carry out remanagement or neutralization before deballasting.

Therefore, shipowners should consider validations of space of installation and selection of systems, and they may need more technical and updated information.

We provide consulting services for selection of BWMS drawing upon a broad base of know-how expertise on trial designs for existing ships and installation of various systems onboard existing ships.
We can provide technical advice on selection of an optimal system based on particulars of a given ship, the results of accumulated know-how in examining BWMS capability, measures regarding approved systems, as well as trial designs based on an existing ship’s drawings.
In addition, we can provide other consulting services for BWMS retrofit.

If shipowner decides to install BWMS in engine room or similar location where there are not so much spaces, which is a particular concern for existing vessels, much more effort must be made in order to obtain information required for suitable construction, including onboard inspections and developing detailed drawings for installation based on original 2D plans.
However, using 3D laser scanner, you can significantly reduce man-hours needed for such works.
Therefore, 3D drawings made by scanning ship’s internal structure and arrangements using a 3D laser scanner can be most effective for smoothly in facilitating the installation design works.
We can provide support in preparing drawings using this technology.