Belgium Government Selects Chelsea Technologies For Ballast Water Compliance Benchmarking

The FPS has selected Chelsea Technologies to provide benchmark portable testing for compliance with ballast water standards.

This follows the Belgium government’s decision to begin testing vessels calling at its ports and terminals to ensure they can demonstrate compliance with the IMO’s Ballast Water Management Convention (BWMC), representing one of the first European nations to enforce this mandate.

Chelsea Technologies’ FastBallast portable ballast water analyser has been chosen by the FPS following a thorough evaluation of portable ballast water tools available on the market. FastBallast will be deployed as a benchmark testing device to conduct spot checks on indicative sampling of vessels arriving into any Belgium port.

Following a detailed technical review, FastBallast was identified as the most accurate solution for portable sampling of ballast water that allows Port State Control (PSC) to target vessels for laboratory compliance testing, as well as providing shipowners with the assurance that their ballast water treatment system is operating effectively, mitigating the risk of potentially significant fines and costly delays.

The variance in portable ballast water testing standards is creating a significant challenge for regulators as they look to develop and establish agreed guidance for portable testing that ensures compliance with the BWMC, and this ambiguity is creating challenges for PSC even as the industry continues to embrace and adopt portable testing. FastBallast’s unique interrogation method operates independently of variable fluorescence per cell, ensuring that cell densities are reported as accurately as testing via microscopy.

Dr Brian Phillips, Chairman of Chelsea Technologies, commented: ‘It is testament to the confidence of the FPS in the unrivalled accuracy and reliability of FastBallast that it has been selected as the gold standard for ballast water sampling in ensuring compliance with the IMO Ballast Water Management Convention. Accurate testing eliminates the risk of any ambiguity over results, potential fines, delays and reputational damage as well as protecting the environment by preventing the spread of invasive aquatic species.

‘Allied to this, confidence in the accuracy of ballast water treatment systems is essential to ensure compliance with environmental regulations, as inaccurate testing and false readings could lead to delays with port state control and potentially significant fines, risking reputational damage, as well as the impact of non-compliant discharges on the environment.’