Shipping industry challenges

Ballast water and hull drag continue to pose major challenges for the shipping industry. ASP Ship Management Group Training Manager Ben Brooksby spoke about these issues at the Biosecurity Summit.

Speaking on behalf of the Australian Shipowners’ Association (ASA), Mr Brooksby said the industry expected to have biosecurity issues around ballast water “sorted in the next eight years or so.”

He said the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) required ships to exchange ballast water 12 miles offshore before coming into port. But to be effective, ships needed to completely empty and refill ballast water, and that was currently not possible in most commercial operations.

However, the industry was now waiting on approved and commercially available large volume treatment technology, and a new International Maritime Organization (IMO) convention, if ratified, would require ships to better manage ballast water to prevent the potentially devastating effects of the spread of harmful aquatic organisms.*

Mr Brooksby said ISO accreditation relevant to ballast water and biofouling was another important step for the industry in working towards environmental protection.

Mr Brooksby noted that biofouling would probably always be an issue for the shipping sector. Hull drag was a major concern, for both environmental and fuel efficiency reasons. The ASA has completed work on biofouling in a number of areas. The Paint Patch Trials Project, which tested new hull paints from 2001 to 2006, was developed after the planned banning of tributyltin (TBT) containing antifouling paints. The project was designed to measure the effectiveness of TBT-free antifouling paint in marine growth prevention.

Four ships were each painted with patches of the trial products and the results compared with TBT coatings. Mr Brooksby said that, generally, the trial products performed as well as, and in some respects better than, the TBT products in preventing marine growth on the main hull. But while ships’ hulls might be smooth and free of biofouling, there were many niches along the underwater surface of hulls that were densely fouled with often diverse communities of marine organisms. Problem areas were sea chests and sea chest grates, seawater inlets/outlets and grates, docking support strips and rudders.

The Niche Area Biofouling Project was designed to assess fouling coverage in each niche area. Organisms found in niche areas were collected and identified, and information on vessel activity was also collected. Areas prone to high biofouling were more subject to higher or lower velocity water flow than the main hull surface, rendering antifouling coatings in these areas ineffective. They were also more prone to paint coating defects and mechanical damage of paint.

Mr Brooksby said the niche area project outcomes and management options had been collated into the “Guidelines for the Prevention of Biofouling on Commercial Vessels” (http://www.asa.com.au click on “Research & Development”, then “Biofouling Guidelines”). It was hoped the guidelines would be taken up by many operators, in Australia and elsewhere.

He said the industry needed to know what requirements were, how to comply and practical ways to implement environmental protections.

* The International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments was adopted by the IMO in 2004. It will enter into force after ratification by 30 states, representing 35 percent of world merchant shipping tonnage. As of 30 September this year, 16 states had ratified the convention. New Zealand is currently working through the process of accession.

Mr Brooksby began his sea career with the Australian company ANL in 1997, after completing his cadet course at Australian Maritime College. He spent six years at sea on tankers, except for a brief period on a passenger ship and coastal vessels in the Mediterranean. He then served a year on ASP tankers and another year with BP International. On returning to ASP, he was seconded to a shore post vetting tankers, before taking up the Group Training Manager role this year. The ASP Group is a global third-party ship manager providing a range of integrated marine services through regional fleet management offices worldwide.

Page last updated: 8 January 2009