Four new 3,300 TEU containerships being built for the French shipping group CMA CGM will feature Wärtsilä Ballast Water Management Systems (BWMS). This is the third series of vessels for which the same owner has selected the Wärtsilä BWMS solution, making a total of 10 ships in all. These latest vessels are being built at the Cosco Zhoushan shipyard in China, and the contract with Wärtsilä was signed in the fourth quarter of 2016.
The BWMS system chosen for these vessels is a 500m3 per hour capacity Wärtsilä Aquarius UV system. This uses a simple two-stage process involving filtration and ultra-violet (UV) irradiation. Delivery of the equipment to the yard is scheduled to begin in July of this year.
"We have enjoyed a long and successful relationship with this major global operator and are pleased and proud to have again been selected as their BWMS provider. The Wärtsilä solution is extremely efficient and very well proven. Furthermore, we are the only company able to offer customers maintenance contract support for a BWMS installation," said Joe Thomas, Director, Ballast Water Management Systems, Wärtsilä Marine Solutions.
Ballast water may be taken onboard by ships for stability and can contain thousands of aquatic or marine microbes, plants and animals, which are then carried to other parts of the world. Untreated ballast water released at the ship's destination can potentially introduce a new invasive species with devastating consequences for the local ecosystem. The International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments was adopted to introduce global regulations to control the transfer of potentially invasive species. It requires ballast water to be treated before being released into a new location. The BWM Convention will enter into force on September 8, 2017.