Conference on: “Ballast Water Management Systems”
Chios Marine Club organized its “Ballast Water Management Treatment Systems” conference on Tuesday 21st of October 2014 with great success. The conference was held at Athens Metropolitan Hotel and the panel consisted of distinguished representatives from five companies, providers of ballast water treatment systems.
| Mr. Markos Tripolitis, president of the Chios Marine Club, made the welcome note to the audience, followed by the opening speech of the director of technical services in Hellenic and Black Sea region of Bureau Veritas, Dr. John Kokarakis. Dr. Kokarakis presented a brief update on the implementation schedule of the convention, current regulatory requirements and critical points for treatment systems to be considered from technical and operational point of view. During the first session of the conference Mr. Tom Perlich of ECOCHLOR, represented in Greece by EUPLOIA DRY DOCKS AND SERVICES, Mr. Andreas Toliopoulos of INTERNAFTIKI representing SUNRUI in Greece and Mrs. Eleni Plolychronopoulou of ERMA FIRST presented the technical aspects of their systems. We thank the Technical Manager of Minerva Marine, Mr. Stavros Daniolos who acted as the moderator for this session. During the second session of the conference, Mr. Tom Kennedy of OPTIMARIN, represented in Greece by AEGEAN DYNAMIC SERVICES and Mr. Markos Vekris of OCEANKING representing in Greece NK CO (KOREA) presented the technical aspects of their systems. We thank the Senior Auditor of Hellenic Lloyd’s, Mr. Panagiotis Kamarados who acted as the moderator for this session. The conference was attended by an audience of about 280 persons, which was mostly made of executives from maritime and technical companies, including also few students from the University of Piraeus. Overall, the opportunity was given to get informed about the challenges the shipowner will face when called to choose from the ballast water treatment technologies available and to make a comparison between the treatment systems that the five companies presented. It is worth mentioning that the shipping industry is expected to face difficulties in certifying the systems fitted on board, due to lack of sufficient number of classification societies’ surveyors, according to the panelists. However, all panelists agreed that there will be enough production capacity, as far as their companies are concerned, to cover the vast demand for purchasing and retrofitting such a system on board ships when the convention will enter into force. |
