Fednav orders ballast water treatment systems

The systems will be installed in a dozen ships currently under construction in Japan.

   Fednav Limited, the largest Canadian operator of international ships in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway system, has ordered ballast water treatment systems to equip a dozen ships it has ordered from the Oshima shipyard in Japan.
   Paul Pathy, president and co-chief executive of Fednav said in a statement, “After extensive analysis and testing, we are confident that the technology we are choosing is an affordable and effective means to ensure that Canada meets its ballast water requirements.”
   The company said the “BallastAce” system, developed by Japan’s JFE Engineering Corp., will be installed on Fednav’s new lakers and will be effective in both fresh and salt water. BallastAce operates through a sophisticated filter and sodium hypochlorite injection mechanism in the ship’s ballast system.
   Fednav said it has tested several other sorts of treatment systems.
   “From the Federal Yukon (copper ions) to the Federal Welland (electrodialytic disinfectant) to the Federal Venture (chlorination), the company has spent millions of dollars over many years to find a reliable, effective, and economical solution to the environmental problems caused by aquatic invasive species,” said Fednav.
   “JFE will install its first system in the Federal Biscay, delivering in October 2015. Consequently, Fednav may well be able to introduce BallastAce to the Great Lakes at the opening of the Saint Lawrence Seaway in 2016,” the company added. With Fednav’s encouragement, AMS-approved BallastAce is now pursuing full U.S. Coast Guard type approval for freshwater and saltwater certification at the Great Ships Initiative facility in Superior, Wisc. and the Maritime Environmental Resource Center facility in Baltimore.
   Fednav said the International Maritime Organization’s Ballast Water Management Convention, of which Canada is a signatory, will most likely enter into force in 2016, the year the U.S. Coast Guard and EPA require the installation of systems on ships trading in U.S. waters.