Page 42: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (February 2013)

42 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News ? Februaryry 2013 ??Seaspan Selects CleanBallast Seaspan caused a stir when it show-cased its revolutionary SAVER (Seas- pan Action on Vessel Energy Reduction) design of 10,000 TEU container vessels. Pursuing the aim of top-efÞ ciency ship operation and improved operational performances, Seaspan has decided to equip its Saver class vessels with RWO?s ballast water treatment system CleanBallast. The delivery of the Þ rst plant to China?s Jiangsu New Yangzi shipyard is set for March 2013.?Ballast water treatment is a tough Þ -nancial pill for ship owners to swallow, a lot of money invested with no return other than environmental compliance. We have invested signi Þ cant time and expertise to research repeatedly what our best option would be. Not just in cost, but reliability, ef Þ cacy and quality, too. We are very happy with our choice of CleanBallast,? said Peter Curtis, COO, Seaspan Corporation.The CleanBallast technology gained ofÞ cial type approval from the German BSH in 2010, and was submitted for AMS and USCG approval in mid-2012. At last year?s SMM exhibition, RWO ofÞ cially launched a modi Þ ed version of the system, based on the technology but using considerably less footprint. The treatment principle is based on two cleaning steps, consisting of the remov-al of sediments and bigger particles by self-cleaning deep-Þ ltration disc Þ lters followed by a disinfection step using RWO?s patented EctoSys technology eliminating the remaining bacteria and organisms. www.rwo.de TECHNICALBALLAST WATER MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS Ballast water treatment is a tough Þ nancial pill for ship owners to swallow, a lot of money invested with no return other than environmental compliance Peter Curtis, COO, Seaspan Corporation ?BWTS in a Box?As shipowners globally wres-tle with the daunting costs of installing soon to be mandatory Ballast Water Treatment Sys- tems, a recent development from Japan is worth watching, as a new ClassNK approved technol-ogy ? essentially ?BWTS in a Box? ? promises to offer faster installation time on an existing vessel, compared to systems installed in the vessel?s engine room. Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. received approval in concept for installation of a packaged con-tainer ballast water treatment system that can Þ t in a vessel?s cargo hold. The development is a joint technological development with Mitsubishi Heavy Indus-tries, Ltd. and marks Japan?s Þ rst approval of such a system by Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (ClassNK). In the system, a commercially available BWTS is packaged in a 40-ft. container complete with electric equipment. The system as presented cures a number of potential ills, including ease of maintenance and accessibility. Characteristics of the contain- er-type ballast water treatment system: (1) Shorten the work required such for preliminary inspection because the system is containerized, allowing for a reduc-tion of detailed pipe Þ tting and adjustment at the installation stage. (2) Installation time is reduced by an estimated seven days, compared to installing a system in the engine room. (3) Effective solution for vessels with limited engine room space.MOL and MHI started detailed engineering work and will install an experimental system with a capacity of 750 cu. m./hr. (the Þ rst ever to Þ t in a 40-ft container) on the MOL-owned 8,100 TEU containership MOL Competence this spring. A container-type ballast water treatment system installed. Right: Sketch of the system, packaged in a 40-foot container. MR #2 (42-49).indd 42MR #2 (42-49).indd 422/3/2013 1:13:16 PM2/3/2013 1:13:16 PM