Wärtsilä to Retrofit AQUARIUS®UV System for LPG ‘Marola’ (Italy)

Wärtsilä, the marine industry’s leading solutions and services provider, has been contracted to retrofit its Wärtsilä AQUARIUS®UV ballast water management system for the ‘Marola’, a 37,000cbm fully refrigerated Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) vessel of the Carbofin SPA, Italy fleet. Carbofin is part of the Carboflotta Group. The retrofitting for the ‘Marola’ will take place in autumn 2013 when the ship is dry docked. The vessel will operate in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean, and South American waters.

By virtue of its design, the Wärtsilä AQUARIUS®UV ballast water management system allows ease of installation for both retrofit and new build applications. The system can be tailored to meet specific requirements, while enabling conformity with legislation and helping owners and operators to minimize their environmental footprint.

Wärtsilä Environmental Solutions offers complete services for retrofit projects. The offering is modular and flexible: depending on customer’s needs the retrofit project scope can vary from a simple equipment delivery to a complete turnkey project where Wärtsilä is responsible also for the installation works. In this specific project, in addition to the equipment Wärtsilä is providing engineering support, commissioning and start-up.

“Our company is conscious of the responsibilities involved in protecting the environment. Our policy is to constantly improve our own environmental services, and to reduce marine pollution by minimizing the risk of emissions and harmful releases. By retrofitting Wärtsilä’s AQUARIUS® ballast water management system to the ‘Marola’, we can be assured of conforming to legislation, as well as protecting and safeguarding the environment in sensitive areas around the world,” says Roberto Saia, Technical Manager, Carboflotta.

“Ballast water management is becoming increasingly important for the industry. At Wärtsilä, we have worked hard to develop technologies that are reliable, efficient, and which promote environmental sustainability. We have a very good working relationship with the Carboflotta Group, for whom we have successfully supplied solutions for more than 25 years,” says Juha Kytölä, Vice President, Environmental Solutions, Wärtsilä Ship Power.

Ratification of the IMO’s Ballast Water Management Convention, which will require the owners of up to 40,000 vessels worldwide to install a ballast water management system (BWMS), is widely anticipated within the next 12 months. The US Coast Guard (USCG) has however implemented their own legislation which states that all ships will have to be in compliance with the regulations when sailing in US coastal waters. Enforcement of the US requirement commences on 19th December 2013, when ships must comply with the 2013 Vessel General Permit (VGP) regulating discharges from ships. As a consequence, ship owners have to evaluate, as a matter of some urgency, the ballast water treatment technology best suited to both their existing and new ships. The intention of the legislation is to address the issue of invasive aquatic species being carried in the ballast water of ships and then discharged to the sea where they can harm local species.

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Wärtsilä, June 7, 2013