Posidonia: Owners Playing ‘Wait and See’ Game before Investing in BWT Solutions
Image Courtesy: VECTORS projectNew business opportunities in the ballast water treatment sector should be more robust than ever in anticipation of the ratification of the BWT Convention which is expected to come into force before the end of 2016.
However, according to BWT specialists exhibiting at this year’s Posidonia Exhibition that may not necessarily be the case as fleet owners seem to be playing a wait and see game before they take the final decision to invest in new technologies that would help them comply with the future regulations.
Nearly 60 ballast water treatment specialist companies participate in this year’s Posidonia from all over the world to meet with existing clients and potential buyers.
“We invest daily on research and development in order to stay ahead of the curve and maintain our competitive advantage,” said Eirini Vitsara, Marketing & Communications Manager of Environmental Protection Engineering (EPE), parent company of Erma First, which is exhibiting its electrolytic cell and cyclones.
“So far we haven’t seen an exponential rise in demand for our ballast water treatment systems however this is likely to change once regulations come to force making such upgrades mandatory for new and old vessels,” she added.
According to one of the world’s largest ballast water treatment specialist, the waiting game adopted by the majority of fleet owners may result in gluts at shipyards worldwide that could in turn increase the cost for shipowners who will eventually have to comply with the regulations.
Vincent Li, Project Manager of China’s SunRui Marine Environment Engineering believes that at some point in the near future there will be huge demand for retrofitting as the BWT regulations get ratified this year.
“We have been prepared for a pick-up in demand by doubling our capacity from 500 cells today to 1,000. So we are preparing for the future having in mind the potential growth in demand.”
As one of the hottest issues in the maritime industry currently, ballast water treatment will be the focus of a summit organized this week at Posidonia by Newsfront/Naftiliaki under the auspices of Greece’s Marine Technical Managers Association (MARTECMA).
“In anticipation of the change in regulations, the number of big water ballast treatment providers grew from a total of 15 a few years ago to over 60 specialist companies which today dominate the sector with a combined market share of 90 percent,” Theodore Vokos, Executive Director, Posidonia Exhibitions said.
Posidonia 2016 is being held from June 6 – 10 at the Athens Metropolitan Expo.
