Wärtsilä UV based BWMS picked for Tidewater PSV newbuilds

OCTOBER 16, 2012 — Wärtsilä has won a contract to supply ballast water management systems (BWMS) to four 3,800 dwt platform supply vessels (PSVs) being built for Tidewater at China’s COSCO (Guangdong) Shipyard for deliveryin 2014.

Wärtsilä’s scope of supply includes four 250 cu.m/hr capacity Wärtsilä Aquarius UV BWMS, which will be assembled and shipped from its manufacturing facility in the U.K. The contract was signed with COSCO shipyard in August.

Wärtsilä Aquarius UV is a modular ballast water management system involving filtration and medium pressure UV disinfection technology and designed to provide a safe, flexible and economical process. For the Tidewater application it was favored over the Aquarius EC BWMS, which uses electro-chlorination, because of owner technology preferences and more favorable space, power and cost considerations on this specific application.

The first of the Aquarius UV systems will be delivered to the shipyard in January 2013 .

“This contract is our first commercial order for PSVs and the selection of a Wärtsilä ballast water management system by Tidewater Marine, L.L.C. underlines confidence in our ability to deliver in this emerging market” says Dr. Joe Thomas, Director, Ballast Water Management Systems, Wärtsilä Environmental Solutions.

Ballast water treatment with the Aquarius UV system is achieved through a two stage process. Upon uptake the sea water is first passed through a back washing filter (First stage). The filtered sea water then passes through a UV chamber (Second stage) where ultra-violet light is used to disinfect the water prior to entering the ballast tank. Upon discharge, water from the ballast tanks passes through the UV chamber only for a second time.

Aquarius UV has been tested extensively at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) facility in the Netherlands during 2011. Sea trials on a 2,000Dwt LPG Carrier have been completed, with the system is now fully operational. All testing was witnessed by Lloyd’s Register and IMO Type Approval via the Dutch Administration is expected before delivery of the first units – a contractual condition.

Wärtsilä offers the Aquarius EC and Aquarius UV, which both became part of the portfolio following the acquisition of Hamworthy plc in January 2012, in addition to the Marinex UV ballast water management system which has been developed and marketed jointly with Trojan Technologies since 2010.

“Our broad technology choice, coupled with a full spectrum of services from the supply of equipment to bespoke turnkey retrofit solutions, all with through life technical and service support on a global basis, underscores Wärtsilä’s commitment to this crucial sector of the maritime market,” Dr. Thomas says.