Paul Squibb, IEng IMarEST, Superintendent, Absolute Shipping, today revealed the challenges that the short sea shipping sector faces ahead of the implementation of the Ballast Water Management Convention.
During the first of three London Ballast Water Forums, hosted by the UK Chamber of Shipping in partnership with Fathom Maritime Intelligence, Mr Squibb revealed the difficulties of not only finding a ballast water treatment system (BWTS) with a small enough footprint to fit to small vessels, but also finding a treatment system that fits the power capabilities of ships in this sector.
Prior to the numerous ratifications that have driven the Convention towards its implementation date, the short sea shipping sector was largely under the impression that ballast water regulations would not affect their operations significantly. Talk of a ballast water management plan and a record book were in place but because ‘most’ ships and not all would be required to have a BWTS, the short sea sector assumed that they would not be affected in the way that they have.
Mr Squibb also raised the question of how necessary BWTS really are for ships that are only operating within one region as the transfer of species is not as widespread as for ships that are operating globally. These organisms are already present in the area and therefore would it not be better to be exempt from the Convention rather than installing further equipment that may be more inefficient, such as a generator, to provide the power needed to run a BWTS? Mr Squibb suggested that an additional generator would need to be installed, leading to further greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as a result and therefore going against the wider aim of the IMO and the USCG of reducing environmental impact of shipping operations.
Under the realisation that they too have to comply, the sector has looked at different ways to obtain a system suit for purpose. However, systems hailed to suit all ships may not actually be fit to do so. The size and power consumption is simply too much and even the size of small systems, such as the BalPure electrolytic system is too big, even when broken down.
Looking initially at chemical systems, the outlook seemed encouraging. They are often compact in both size and power consumption, however, the first glance did not turn out to be so promising. The chemical systems need to be kept warm and heated and this is where the power consumption and size does not fit the vessel, stated Mr Squibb, and this does not even take into consideration the exacerbated problems the short sea shipping sector faces with corrosion.
Even Hyde Guardian’s UV system has fallen short. Despite the ability to be broken down and fit into restricted spaces, the system does still not fair up as expected as it cannot be applied to small ships because of space constraints.
Mr Squibb also drew on the fact that the USCG and even the IMO want to make their regulations even tighter regarding BWTS. However, at the current time they cannot, especially the USCG has not one system to date has achieved their Type Approval.
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