Oldendorff Carriers has selected Erma First to supply it with ballast water treatment systems (BWTS), the German shipowner has confirmed.
“Their BWTS is simple, flexible, and suitable for small and large ballast-pump capacities. It also has a small footprint and a low power consumption,” Oldendorff said.
The Erma First system is said to be US Coast Guard (USCG) type approved and IMO approved for nearly all water types.
Although the fitting of BWTS is not yet compulsory, Oldendorff said it plans to fit a trial Erma First system in July 2018 and start fitting many of its owned vessels in 2019.
Oldendorff said this timeframe will give time to train and implement the system before vessels are required to comply with the regulations.
The selection followed a review of the approved BWTS by the which included visiting some manufacturing facilities.
Oldendorff said the review included; regulation compliance, capital cost, energy requirements, anticipated operating costs, space requirements, simplicity to manage and availability.
“We have had an internal task force working on BWTS for two years, during this time we have thoroughly investigated many systems, particularly those with US Coast Guard approval,” said Niklas Richter, project manager of the Oldendorff Carriers green ships department.
“We were very impressed with the professionalism of Erma First and are very pleased to partner with them on the BWTS project.”
