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Journal of Marine Engineering and Technology Volume 11 No 1 January 2012
Preview of global ballast water treatment markets
were estimates based on the installation of a single system on
each ship. For example, since these figures were compiled,
the authors received new information about a fleet installation
involving two systems per ship and a bulk-equipment only
price of approximately $1 800 000 per vessel.
Estimates were also made of the range of costs to install
these systems. The range of costs outlined in Table 6 is based
on an analysis of six installation options, including:
l
New Build – US yard,
l
New Build – Asian yard,
l
Shore-based Retrofit – US yard,
l
Shore-based Retrofit – Asian yard,
l
Retrofit While Ship is in Service – US vessel/installation,
l
Retrofit While Ship is in Service – Non-US vessel/instal-
lation.
It is important to note here that installation costs will vary
widely even within a particular ship type/size depending on
the characteristics of individual ships and space and other
requirements of specific types of BWTS. The installation
cost estimates provided here can be viewed as ‘typical,’ but
most were based on installing a single system aboard eight
particular ships that were selected as being typical of ships in
each of the eight ship categories considered.
The most critical factor affecting BWTS installation costs
is the space requirements of the BWTS and whether various
components of a particular BWTS can be located in a single
location on the ship or need to be placed in separate locations
and linked together. Because of ‘footprint problems,’ many
BWTS vendors offer modular systems that can be installed
wherever there is adequate space and connected together.
While these modular features make it possible for more
BWTS to be considered potential candidates for installation
aboard more types and sizes of ships, taking advantage of
these modular features can add significantly to installation
costs. Installation costs shown here can only be regarded as
approximate values. As a general ‘rule of thumb’ it might be
assumed that installation costs would be approximately half
the equipment cost. However, this 2:1 ratio could approach
4:3 if substantial footprint problems and increased fabrication
needs are encountered. Note that, in Table 5, a more recent
cost comprising two BWTS instead of one, involves little or
no economy of scale.
The 2009 MERC system-cost report includes detailed
analyses of purchase, installation, and fixed annual operating
costs (eg, maintenance) and variable annual operating costs
(per metric ton of ballast treated) for selected ships in the
eight types/sizes of vessels. This report is available at www.
maritime-enviro.org/ and presents all of the assumptions used
to develop preliminary cost estimates and the vessel-specific
cost development spreadsheets that were used to develop the
cost estimates and resulting market value estimates presented
here. The cost spreadsheets presented in that earlier report can
be modified and refined easily to accommodate new cost data
or different ship types/sizes/patterns of use. A preliminary
cost analysis of fixed annual maintenance costs is summa-
rised in Table 7.
Using life-cycle costs per metric ton of ballast treated,
it was estimated that Filtration/UV and Electrolysis/electro-
chlorination systems appear to be the least expensive solu-
tions for most types/sizes (Table 8). For all ship types/sizes,
not enough data were found on Filtration, deoxygenation and
cavitation systems to include this treatment system type in
the analysis.
Preliminary surveys of vendors and shipowners suggest
that there will be minimal or no lost revenue from retrofitting
a merchant ship with a BWTS as long as installation time
fits within normal shipyard time. Hull painting is typically
the critical path item in terms of limited shipyard capacity
and usually requires a minimum of seven days. Interviews
and follow-up discussions indicated that ballast water treat-
ment retrofit could take between seven days and one month
to complete, depending on the degree of fabrication required.
With large, modern fleets in particular, ships may utilise
Underwater Inspection in Lieu of Drydocking (UWILD)
to meet their periodic hull exam requirements. This would
extend the time between dockings to once every five to seven
years, which may make it more suitable for some ships to
have BWTS installed while a ship is in service (at sea). While
Vessel type
Filtration/UV
Filtration/
chemical
Deoxygenation/
cavitation
Electrolysis/
electrochlorination
General Cargo, Breakbulk
$11,000
$31,000
$9,000
$17,000
General Cargo, RO-RO
$11,000
$37,000
$9,000
$17,000
Container, 2500 TEU
$11,000
$44,000
$9,000
$17,000
Bulker, Panamax
$11,000
$56,000
$9,000
$17,000
Container, 8000 TEU
$11,000
$82,000
$9,000
$17,000
Bulker, Cape Sized
$11,000
$100,000
$9,000
$17,000
Tanker,TAPS Trade
$11,000
$142,000
$9,000
$17,000
VLCC
$11,000
$296,000
$9,000
$17,000
Table 7: Annual operating costs*
* Includes fixed annual costs (eg, BWTS maintenance) as well as annual costs that vary with the amount of BW treated. Filtration/chemical system cost estimates
vary by ship type and also by the amount of ballast treated which determines the cost of consumables. (eg, chemicals).
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