Ballast Water Management System

To maintain hull stability and sailing safety, seawater (ballast water) is pumped into the ballast tanks of empty cargo vessels and tankers. This ballast water is later discharged at ports of loading, where negative affects on ecosystems have been pointed out in that the ballast water contains marine organisms from an ocean area different from the area where the organisms are released.

In 2004, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments, requesting installation of equipment to properly process the ballast water on board from other countries. The convention will enter into force once it has been ratified by 30 countries representing 35% of the world’s gross tonnage. As one of IMO approved vendors in Japan, M/s. JFE Engineering Corporation is already developing a Ballast Water Management System for ships that is friendly to the marine environment.

Their latest system treats ballast water by using a high performance filter to return many living organisms to their original sea zone when seawater is ballasting into the tanks of the ship, thence processing the small plankton and bacteria in the filtered water using chemicals and cavitations (a phenomenon that generates bubbles by compressing and then rapidly releasing flow velocity,), and finally de-ballasting the treated water into the sea after the small quantities of residual chemicals have been neutralized to ensure they are non-polluting.

ISS Machinery Services Limited is pleased to announce that we recently tied up with above business partner,
M/s. JFE Engineering Corporation who newly developed Ballast Water Management System called “JFE Ballast Ace”. IMO has adopted regulations that will affect nearly all vessels in the coming years.

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