In the coming period, global yards are expected to carry out 875 ballast water treatment system (BWTS) installations per month – a roughly 700% increase on the level of recent years, says an article published in Offshore Energy.
“This could lead to a massive bottleneck due to limited yard capacity, driving up both equipment and installation costs,” UK’s Newport Shipping (NS) and Norway’s Optimarin revealed.
Responding to higher market demands
As informed, the duo has teamed up to jointly respond to the high market demand. The companies have also secured the first order of BWTS from an unnamed German shipowner.
IMO’s deadline for compliance
The expected “rush” of retrofits of such systems comes ahead of International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) deadline for compliance with the D2 standard for ballast water discharges.
The D2 standard is a performance standard that specifies the maximum amount of viable organisms allowed to be discharged, including specified indicator microbes harmful to human health.
Only 40 months remaining for the deadline
According to Clarksons Research, around 35,000 vessels still need to install BWTS with only 40 months remaining until IMO’s 2024 deadline.
“Shipowners are running the risk of leaving it too late. There is a real sense of urgency for shipowners to start planning now for installation of BWT systems to avoid a negative impact on price, quality, and delivery,” warned Lianghui Xia, managing director of Newport Shipping.
For more information read our article Global Fleet Has Just 40 Months Left To Install BWTS
A best-ever start to a year
Optimarin has so far delivered around 800 BWTS, with another 400 on order.
The BWTS specialist has seen its best-ever start to a year, with the company signing a series of fleet contracts, frame agreements, and system orders to continue the positive trend recorded in Q4 2020.
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Source: OFFSHORE ENERGY
