Change best describes 2022 and the change from installation to operating ballast water management systems (BWMS) has revealed a need for expert advice to optimise operations, says Simplify Ballast founder Mark Riggio
As the world has begun to look more like the world we all took for granted prior to Covid, this past year has been largely about making up for lost time.
For the ballast water market, this change has been about evolving from the implementation phase to operational reality. Challenging water, crew training and changeouts, operational issues, compliance testing, and even getting access to resources needed for routine maintenance are all becoming regular concerns for shipowners when using their installed ballast water management systems.
All of these challenges were at the forefront of why I launched Simplify Ballast. Simplify Ballast is a company dedicated to making ballasting simple again. We focus on data-driven analyses of system performance, coupled, as necessary, with onboard inspections, and interviews with operators to provide actionable solutions to the needs of crews who are not satisfied with the performance of their BWMS.
BWMS performance concerns are varied, but they can all be distilled to a common theme: ballast water is not flowing as the crew expects it should. Whether this is because the flow is too slow, silt and organic content is slowing or clogging the filter, or the installed system is constantly in some sort of alarm state, the inability of a ship to move ballast in a predictable manner is creating a lot of concern for the industry.
Ballasting rates are tied to cargo loading and discharge rates. When a vessel cannot remove or add sufficient ballast, sometimes shoreside operations must be slowed to prevent instability. For many ports, this is difficult and extended cargo loading times create higher costs.
Beyond simply slowing loading or discharge rates, situations where a vessel cannot use its BWMS for any reason likely requires the system to be bypassed. Bypassing a BWMS creates significant risks for vessels as the organisms brought on board can easily contaminate the ballast piping, ballast tanks, and even the sampling location, creating a high risk of the vessel failing future compliance tests.
There is a tendency to blame the system when difficulties are encountered but the reality is that the type-approval testing process is very good. More often than not, the challenges that the ship is facing relates either to the installation of the system, the way the crew is operating the system, or the lack of proper maintenance. Even a simple thing like a cleaning cycle or a manual backflush can vastly improve how a system is performing.
Simplify Ballast has already seen significant activity from ship managers, shipboard crews, and even from BWMS manufacturers to help provide independent advice to optimise system function.
Providing the right guidance means that a system, and most importantly the vessel, can ballast at higher, more predictable rates, which is something everyone wants to see happen.
