Development of Ballast Free Ships

Ships intake and discharge cargos when they are berthed in ports or harbors. During
this process, the weight distribution of the ship changes rapidly which results in the change of
draught and trim of the ship. This in turn leads to the catastrophic loss of stability. When
ships are exposed to foul weather, they tend to lose their intact stability. This brings the
concept of ballast water into account.

What is a Ballast?
Ballast water is the water carried in ships to improve the stability, balance and trim. It
is taken up when the ships need extra stability or when the cargo is unloaded and discharged.
It is currently vital for safe and efficient shipping operations, however taking up of ballast
water and discharging it in oceans may have an ecological impact.

Ballast Water Management:

The movement of vessels around the world requires the intake of ballast water in
order to give them a safe degree of stability. When ships intake water from oceans, the plants
and marine organisms from the ocean are also picked up. Discharging this ballast water,
releases organisms into the new areas where they can become marine pests. This affects the
taken organisms in ballast and also the marine organisms in the new area where the ballast is
discharged, this may also tend to extinction of the particular species. In order to reduce the
harmful effects on the marine environment, the International Maritime Organization (IMO)
adopted a convention in order to control and manage ships ballast and sediments ion on 13th
February 2004. In ballast water management, the microorganisms are killed and they are
being separated, thus the treated ballast water is released in oceans. A general ballast water
treatment plant comprises of two stages with one stage using physical separation while the
second stage employing some disinfectant technology. The choice of treatment system used
in combination depends on a variety of factors such as type of ship, space available on the
ship, and cost limitations as mentioned before.

How Ballast Free ships work?

Traditionally, ballast water systems increase the weight of vessels in the light cargo
condition, improving their stability, propulsion, manoeuvrability, and reducing stress on ship
hulls during transit. The ballast free concept would focus on the use of concept of ballast
condition as a change of buoyancy, rather than an addition of weight in order to get the vessel
to its safe ballast draft.
In this concept, the traditional ballast tanks are replaced by longitudinal, structural ballast
trunks that extend beneath the cargo region of the ship below the ballast draft. These trunks
are flooded with seawater in order to reduce the buoyancy of the vessel while in ballast
condition, thus getting the vessel down to its ballast drafts. The hydrodynamic pressure
differential between the bow region and the stern region of the moving ship, allows slow flow
of sea water into these open ballast trunks. As a result, the open ballast trunks are always
filled with slowly moving “sea water”.

World’s first ballast free LNG bunkering vessel:

South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Mipo Dockyard has developed a ballast-free ship
design, which will be first applied to a 7,600m3 LNG bunkering vessel. According to Lloyd’s
Register, this will be the world’s first ballast free LNG bunkering vessel. It was ordered by
Germany-based Bernhard Schulte Ship management in late 2016 and is currently under
construction to LR class at HMD’s Ulsan shipyard. HMD focused on hull form optimisation
and developed a better performing dead-rise hull form, confirmed through the wet model test.
This vessel, which will store LNG in two independent IMO type C tanks, also features twin
propulsion system with two azimuth thrusters.

Pros & Cons of BFS:

Pros:
1. Eliminates the costly ballast water treatment equipment or ballast water treatment
chemicals, which makes it profitable for the owner of the vessel.
2. During the full load condition or any condition where ballast is not necessary, the
outer ballast trunks would be segregated using valves at each of the cargo hold
bulkheads. Its purpose is to provide the vessel enough damage survivability under
current IMO requirements.
3. BFS would have an extended service life, as it will not have to deal with the
corrosion that sediment build up is causing in the ballast tanks.
4. BFS will have better course-keeping capabilities, as the absence of heavy ballast
tanks would decrease the slamming impacts in heavy weather.
Cons:
1. This kind of design can reduce the costs of ballast water treatment, but they may
lead to higher hull build costs and operational costs.
2. The shipping industry is largely conservative. This delays the uptake of the ballast
free concept, as many operators are reluctant to launch a new vessel type,
especially if they are not sure that it would be seaworthy.

In order to mitigate these problems, a number of solutions have been proposed. These
solutions do not include a complete ballast free design, but they aim to minimise ballast
discharge. Another solution could be cleaning water at ports.

Reference:
1. International Journal of Innovative Research And Development.
(www.ijird.com)
2. Marine Insight, The Maritime Executive.
3. Indian Journal For Geo-Marine Science ( CFD Analysis Of Ballast Free Ship Design
-Avinash Godey,Prof. S C Misra and O P Sha)
4. Lloyd’s Register (www.lr.org)