German maritime waste specialist Jongen GmbH has taken delivery of a Damen InvaSave 300 mobile ballast water treatment system. The IMO-certified system helps ship operators in the port of Hamburg to comply with the ballast water regulations that came into effect on 8 September 2019.

‘We believe that Hamburg stands out from the other European ports by offering a mobile state-of-the-art ballast water treatment system operated by Jongen,’ says Julia Dettmer, director of Jongen. ‘The Invasave 300 is Hamburg’s answer to the new regulation of the IMO Ballast Water Management (BWM) Convention in order to prevent the transfer of harmful aquatic organisms.’

No Holding Time

The InvaSave is tested and IMO certified to treat ballast water without any holding time. Just as suitable for outbound as inbound vessels, it treats ballast water to IMO-D2 standards. InvaSave utilises no chemicals to eliminate invasive organisms from ballast water in a single pass.

Operating as an external unit, the InvaSave 300 is housed in a standard container. This affords owners of the system a huge amount of mobility, comments Matthijs Schuiten from Damen Green Solutions. ‘Because InvaSave fits on a trailer, workboat or barge, and no storage for holding time is required, operators can easily move it to where it is needed. The sheer mobility of InvaSave means that ship owners calling on Jongen’s new ballast water treatment services in the Port of Hamburg can keep their downtime to a minimum. This includes downtime during port calls, as well as the downtime needed for retrofitting an onboard ballast water treatment system.’

IMO BWM Convention

8 September 2019 was an important date in the application of the IMO’s BWM Convention. Although the Convention actually came into force two years earlier, it stipulates that vessels built before 8 September 2017 must be able to comply with regulations by the time of their first International Oil Pollution Prevention (IOPP) renewal survey. This date falls on or after 8 September 2019.