ONLINE APP HELPS SELECT BWMS
Ballast water treatment consultant UniBallast has developed an online application to help choose a suitable ballast water management system from among the large number available.
Its Ballast Water Treatment Finder App is a free service that can be accessed via the Dutch company’s website homepage (www.uniballast.nl). Click on the blue water drop in the middle at the top of the page.
UniBallast said that its database contains all the systems on the market in their various configurations: 161 chemical-based systems and 175 using UV radiation. This is a larger number than listed in the annual Ballast Water Treatment Technology guide since it includes each variant of each device as separate entries.
Suitable options can be identified by using the app to set a number of criteria, including flow rate, power requirement, working principles and type-approvals. The company invited BWTT to try the system and offer feedback. In a statement last week, it extended that invitation to all users.
BWTT’s editor, Paul Gunton, commended UniBallast’s developers for producing what he described as “an impressive piece of work.” He has suggested a few minor refinements, including one to the ‘working principle’ selector, which sorts the systems into those that use chemicals and those that use UV radiation. A third option, of ‘no preference’ “could be useful for users who want to explore the whole range of options based on other criteria before choosing their preferred working principle,” he said.
In response to feedback from BWTT and other users, UniBallast is working on “an improved Version 2,” that will be made available online soon, its director, Veronica Breed, told BWTT today (17 August). “We have had a generally positive response to the app,” she said, which is aimed mainly at shipowners along with fleet, asset and purchasing managers, she added.
