Installations; dry-dock versus on-voyage.

The marine industry is faced with an enormous task and financial burden to meet a fast approaching dead line for compliance of environmental regulation concerning treatment of ballast water from ships. With an estimated conservative number of 40,000 existing ships having to comply within a 5 year period, there certainly is a huge challenge to ensure compliance in time.

The marine industry is and has always been innovative, at the same time very conservative. Later than sooner, solutions have been found and the industry has historically shown a creative way of how to survive.

Instrumental Marine Services International Limited established in 1989 has provided installation services to ship owners world-wide since its first day of operation. The business concept has been, time is money, where installations have been carried out safely to the highest quality while the vessel is in normal sea service. This concept is now becoming more and more relevant as the compliance deadline for the treatment of ballast water is approaching. There are of course many solutions to an installation of a ballast water treatment system, considering safety concerns, quality issues and economical impact.

In the case of a complete installation during a scheduled dry-docking of the vessel, the entire project can be completed in one shot. This may be the best solution in some cases,  in particular where operational issues prohibits  work due to gas freeing issues and so forth, but not always. While undergoing a scheduled docking, many other repairs are carried out, in most cases, during a short period of time. Negative impact can be safety and quality issues due to time pressure.

Indications are that many ship owners will take a sit and wait approach to select and install their treatment system, considering concerns that a system installed today may not meet the requirements that will be in effect at the time of the dead line.
Even with an increase in new suppliers obtaining approval for their systems, will there be enough capacity to supply the actual demand for all ships to be in compliance by the deadline? Will all components to a complete system be available at the same time, such as supply of new ballast water pumps? What about shipyard capacity? With many ship owners taking the sit and wait approach, will there be enough shipyard capacity? With a conservative number of  40,000 vessels, starting today, 20 vessels must be retrofitted each and every day to be in compliance by the deadline  It is fair to believe that this will be an issue as well as an increase in cost. Considering this, there is ample capacity for an on-voyage installation approach. This offers a win-win scenario where in many cases the majority of the installation will be done at sea. The IMS approach is to carry out the critical part such as sea chest connections while the vessel is undergoing a scheduled dry-docking, then carry out the rest while in normal sea service. Typically a small team of ships fitters (4 men) provides a sufficient capacity to handle the installation. The benefits shown from experiences are many. Delivery of components may be faced with delays or damage. In dry dock this will cause costly delays. Pre-fabricated components may have to be re-adjusted, again causing delays in dry-dock. These delays will of course also occur during the voyage installation concept, but not nearly at the cost while in dry-dock, considering additional off-hire time of the vessel. Other repair works carried out simultaneously in dry-dock may interfere with the installation, compromising quality of the installation. This is not an issue while at sea. With less interference from other ongoing works, the on voyage installation will be faced with less obstacles and time delays. Another important element in cost saving is the availability of tools onboard. By utilizing welding equipment and other tooling that already is onboard, the tooling cost is significantly reduced.

Another benefit is the interaction with the onshore management and the vessel’s crew.  From day one, the on voyage installation concept allows for close coordination with the vessels superintendent, the equipment and component supplier and onboard personnel without the pressure of a magnitude of other projects being carried out same time. This is an important factor in enhancing safety and quality.

From an overall cost concept, even in a market with all time low daily rates, one day of off-hire can fast approach 25 percent of the on-voyage total labor cost. 

With more and more composite materials being used for sea water piping and other applications, IMS has expanded its capabilities and provides certified personnel and specialized tooling for installation of piping systems manufactured by Ameron Bondstrand®, Future Pipe Industries and Georg Fischer. The IMS on-voyage installation service is ISO 9001:2008 certified by Det Norske Veritas. IMS also have obtained Achilles approval for work in the offshore sector.

For more information, www.imsinternational.com or contact us at