Hapag-Lloyd Relies on GEA BallastMaster ultraV 500
Germany’s largest shipping company, Hapag-Lloyd, relies on chemical-free UV ballast water reatment from GEA for fitting its container fleet.
In April 2015, the BallastMaster ultraV 500 was technically accepted on board Panamax containership London Express (shipboard acceptance approval).
“With a throughput of 500 cu. m./hr., our DNV-GL-certified system performs the required ballast water cleaning processes by mechanical pre-filtration with subsequent disinfection of the ballast water using UV-C and ultrasound application,” said Tilo Pfützke, GEA Ballast Water Project Manager. “The 294-m-long freighter can therefore be used worldwide in accordance with the IMO-D-2 standards and actively contributes to the protection of the maritime ecosystem.”
Thanks to its flexible design, bespoke modular integration of the BallastMaster ultraV 500 was possible in the existing ship infrastructure of the London Express, which entered operation in 1998 (gross tonnage 53,523). “One particular challenge was connecting to the ship’s software system in order to guarantee easy, reliable and efficient system operation from the control room. This was achieved perfectly with the intelligent IO control from GEA,” said Lars Voss, Hapag-Lloyd AG Senior Superintendent and Project Manager.
With the BallastMaster upgrade, Hapag Lloyd – although not yet obliged to do so for the existing container fleet – has now already voluntarily put in place the technical conditions for treatment of the ballast water on board the London Express in accordance with the requirements of the IMO convention. www.gea.com
(As published in the August 2015 edition of Maritime Reporter & Engineering News - http://magazines.marinelink.com/Magazines/MaritimeReporter)