Damen’s external ballast water treatment system (BWTS) has received the International Maritime Organization (IMO) type approval.

Designed primarily for use in ports and harbors, the Damen InvaSave treats ballast water to the IMO D-2 standard for ballast water received from inbound ships. It can also deliver water treated to the same standard to outbound vessels.

According to Damen, the system can treat “raw” ballast water from ships without any pre-treatment or settling time in the ballast tank.

“Its mobile, containerised format means that it can be operated from the dockside or from onboard a vessel alongside, receiving or delivering water to a ship,” Damen said.

The approval of Damen BWTS comes ahead of the IMO Ballast Water Management (BWM) Convention’s entry into force on September 8, 2017.

Under the convention’s terms, vessels will be required to manage their ballast water to remove, render harmless, or avoid the uptake or discharge of aquatic organisms and pathogens within ballast water and sediments.