DAMEN Shipyards Group has unveiled a pioneering new mobile ballast water treatment (BWT) unit. The new in-house technology bolsters Damen’s Ballast Water Centre of Excellence, which advises fleet managers on total BWT solutions for retrofits and newbuilds worldwide.

Developed in-house, the fully containerised, mobile Damen InvaSave BWT unit provides ship owners with a cost-effective alternative to retrofitting fixed BWT systems. Damen has also developed the world’s first mobile treatment vessel to operate in ports and support ship deballasting operations. The first of these customised Damen barges, fitted with Damen InvaSave units, is now under construction for service in the Dutch ports of Eemshaven and Delfzijl. One of the most important (financial) partners in this project is the ‘Waddenfonds’, the organisation focusing on the preservation of the ‘Waddensea’, which is listed as a protected Unesco world heritage site.

As well as avoiding considerable retrofit investments, the mobile solution means ballast water only needs treating at the point of discharge, in contrast to fixed onboard BWT installations that also need to treat ballast water at intake. Damen can deliver the system as a separate mobile container, which can be put on board or moved around the port on a truck. Each Damen InvaSave container unit handles 300 m3/h – it’s easy to scale up if required by using multiple container units.