The joint BWM (Ballast Water Management) convention is an international effort in the development of more sustainable shipping. By 2024 at the latest, all vessels using ballast water that are in service on the world’s seas and oceans must be equipped with their own onboard treatment system This relates ultimately to safeguarding biodiversity.

GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL WORK

The Alfa Laval PureBallast system, which has been developed jointly by Alfa Laval and Wallenius Water on the basis of Wallenius Water’s technology, treats a vessel’s ballast water so that no foreign organisms are spread when it is pumped out into the sea. “Living organisms from the biological environment where the vessels originally come from can cause major problems if they are released in other locations around the world. A good example of this is the Asian shore crab, which ate almost everything in its path along the west coast of Sweden a few

years ago. Treating the ballast water is quite simply global environmental work,” says Kjell Hjalmarsson, Key Account Manager at Fredriksons. The UV reactor that Fredriksons manufactures is a central part of the treatment system. The reactor clears the water of the very smallest microorganisms using UV light, which has major benefits compared to the alternative, i.e. chemical treatment. With UV light, there are no residual products that have to be separated from the ballast water and that risk creating new environmental problems.

CUSTOMER BENEFIT IS KEY

“For a number of years, the product has mainly been supplied to newly built vessels, which have had to have their own treatment system on board since the end of 2017, We are now witnessing a steady upturn with even larger volumes, as the ships that are already in service have to be fitted with

the same type of system by 2024 at the latest,” says Kjell Hjalmarsson, who goes on to explain that Fredriksons’ investments in automation, new technology, robots and new machinery are a precondition for successfully being able to meet the demand. The UV reactor is produced in a number of sizes and variants. For the existing fleet, it is difficult to predict when installations will take place. It is therefore a challenge to forecast the volumes for the various models and reactor sizes. “By preprocessing reactors as far as possible within our production process and then customising them when the final decision arrives, we can ensure rapid deliveries. This is all about customer benefit, and by creating the right conditions in our manufacturing process, we can successfully satisfy our customers’ needs and wishes,” says Kjell Hjalmarsson.