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Table 8. Life Cycle Cost per MT of BW treated (Based on an expected 25-year life cycle).
Type of Ship
Filtration and
UV Light
Filtration and
Chemical
Deoxygenation
and Cavitation
Electrolysis
and Electro-
chlorination
Bulker Cape Sized
$0.14 - 0.15
$0.36 - 0.38
$0.27 - 0.28
$0.14 - 0.16
Bulker Panamax
$0.25 - 0.29
$0.51 - 0.55
$0.36 - 0.39
$0.27 - 0.30
Container 2500 TEU
$0.34 - 0.39
$0.61 - 0.67
$0.44 - 0.47
$0.32 - 0.37
Container 8000 TEU
$0.15 - 0.17
$0.38 - 0.41
$0.29 - 0.31
$0.14 - 0.16
General Cargo
Breakbulk
$0.67 - 0.75
$1.00 - 1.12
$0.70 - 0.77
$0.65 - 0.74
General Cargo RO-RO
$0.45 - 0.51
$0.74 - 0.83
$0.53 - 0.59
$0.44 - 0.51
Tanker TAPS Trade
$0.10 - 0.11
$0.31 - 0.33
$0.24 - 0.25
$0.11 - 0.12
Tanker VLCC
$0.07 - 0.08
$0.28 - 0.29
$0.22 - 0.23
$0.08 - 0.09
Not enough data found on Filtration, Deoxygenation & Cavitation Systems to include
Our preliminary interviews 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 shipyard capacity availability and usually
requires a minimum of seven days, while preliminary interviews indicate that ballast water
treatment retrofit should take fewer than seven days to complete. With large, modern fleets in
particular, ships may utilize 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 the cost of having a dedicated crew install a
BWTS while the ship is at sea is slightly more expensive than having the system installed at a
shipyard, our research did not indicate that this would be a cost-prohibitive option for most
vessel types if BWT installation needs did not correspond with a routine shipyard visit. Our
interviews indicated that such installations have been successfully completed with no vessel
down-time recorded.
For most technologies our interviews and other research indicate that annual fixed operating
costs for maintenance of BWT systems would typically be in the $9,000 to $17,000 range,
depending on vessel type and size. The exception among approved technologies is for
filtration/chemical systems which have a much wider range of annual operating costs--an
estimated $31,000 to $296,000--because of the use of consumables (chemicals) that will vary
widely based on vessel type and size.
For each vessel type/size, operating costs were estimated to amount to two to five cents per
metric ton of ballast water treated. The exception is for deoxygenation/cavitation systems, which
we estimated to cost 19 to 20 cents per metric ton due to fuel costs.
For all ship types analyzed, our analysis indicated that the installation of BWTS during new ship
construction, on average, is about $100,000 lower than the cost of a comparable retrofit. Due to
variations in individual ships, shipyard labor rates, new construction price guarantees, and
shipyard volume price incentives, this number will vary widely. Subsequent interviews suggest
that this estimate of $100,000 in cost savings associated with new builds is probably low.