Grieg Shipping Group News

Ballast water treatment (BWT) specialist Optimarin has signed a contract with Saga Shipholding for the provision of three of its Optimarin Ballast Systems (OBS). The order marks a new chapter in the working relationship between the two, with Saga originally purchasing an initial 26 systems from Optimarin in 2012. According to Nils Otto Bjorhovde, Saga Shipholding’s Hong Kong-based Technical Manager, it’s the performance of those systems to date that persuaded the firm to return for more: “We spent 2011 evaluating the entire BWT market,” Bjorhovde said.

With its latest succession of contracts won, ballast water treatment (BWT) specialist Optimarin reports it has now sold more than 400 of its environmentally friendly UV-based systems. Optimarin said 2016 has been a boom year for a company that installed the first ever commercial BWT system back in 2000. Optimarin Ballast System (OBS) orders have been confirmed with Atlantis Tankers (10 units) and Sinopacific Shipbuilding Group (nine), while the firm also made its first foray into fishing, with a contract for the Fisherman’s Finest vessel America’s Finest.

Optimarin has consolidated its position within the EX approved ballast water treatment (BWT) segment with a 10 vessel contract from Atlantis Tankers Group and its management arm Armona Denizcilik, the company announced. The Norwegian BWT specialist will now provide its solution to two newbuildings and the eight existing vessels in the Turkish controlled fleet. Optimarin is the first UV system supplier to pass the USCG’s marine water tests, with full USCG approval expected this spring.

Ballast water treatment (BWT) specialist Optimarin said it has become the first UV system supplier to meet USCG marine water requirements, positioning the Norwegian company for full USCG approval in 2016. In a series of land-based tests, both the standard MPN (regrowth) method and the more exacting FDA/CMFDA, or ‘instant kill’, benchmark were successfully assessed, the company said. Optimarin’s system utilizes UV irradiation and back-flushing filters to wipe out invasive organisms that stow away in ballast.

Optimarin has agreed an exclusive partnership with Zeppelin Power Systems for the engineering, supply and after sales service of its Optimarin Ballast System (OBS) technology. Zeppelin, a provider of drive, propulsion, traction and energy systems, will now become the exclusive dealer of the OBS in Germany, Poland, Russia and all CIS countries, with the exclusion of Ukraine. The agreement, effective immediately, has been made ahead of the anticipated ratification of the IMO’s BWM (Ballast Water Management) Convention, which industry observers now believe is imminent. The ratification will see the approximately 100,000 strong SOLAS fleet rushing to install proven ballast water treatment (BWT) systems – so far only around 3…

Ballast water treatment (BWT) specialist Optimarin has announced that it has received full EX approval for a modified version of its market proven Optimarin Ballast System (OBS). The approval means the Norwegian firm can now target the chemical tanker segment, augmenting the 310 unit orders it has already received and increasing a market share that currently stands at around 10%. Optimarin’s specially engineered EX model meets with stringent Zone 1 ATEX requirements, making it suitable for installation onboard a wide variety of tankers carrying flammable or explosive materials.

The Norwegian company ‘Grieg Shipping Group’, has signed a contract with SpecTec Norway for the  supply of  AMOS  software. Grieg Shipping Group belongs to the Grieg Group, one of the largest Management Service Companies of Scandinavia. Founded in 1884, The Grieg Group established a shipping branch in 1961, ‘Star Shipping’, which became Grieg Shipping Company in 2008. Today the company owns 26 OHGC (open-hatch general cargo vessels) fleet, and it has just taken delivery of 4 new state-of-the-art open hatch vessels…