MOL wins approval of installation for packaged container ballast water treatment system in cargo hold
Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd announced that the company acquired approval in concept for installation of a packaged container ballast water treatment system that can fit in a vessel's cargo hold, MOL press release reads. This is a joint technological development with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. and marks Japan's first approval of such a system by Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (ClassNK). The new technology offers much faster installation time on an existing vessel, compared to systems installed in the vessel's engine room.
Commercially available BWTS is packaged in a 40-foot container (about 12m long) with electric equipment. Ease of maintenance and accessibility is considered for this containerized design.
[Characteristics of the container-type ballast water treatment system]
1. Shorten the work required such for preliminary inspection because the system is containerized, allowing for a great reduction of detailed pipe fitting 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 750m3/h (the first ever to fit in a 40-foot container) on the MOL-owned 8,100 TEU containership MOL Competence this spring.
Ballast water discharged while loading/discharging cargo carries marine organisms around the world and can have a negative impact on marine ecosystems and biodiversity. This has become a subject of global concern since the late 1980s. Accordingly, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted the Ballast Water Management Convention in February 2004, and its ratification is under way.
