dws-damen-loflo-retrofit-770pxDamen Shipyards Group has delivered the first new LoFlo 60 ballast water treatment systems, for installation on-board the Royal Netherlands Navy's submarine support ship HNLMS Mercuur.

The LoFlo installation will be carried out in January 2016. The HNLMS Mercuur is currently undergoing a maintenance and refit programme at Damen Shipyards Den Helder in the Netherlands.

The LoFlo system will help the Dutch Royal Navy to comply with the new ballast water discharge regulations.

dws-damen-loflo-60-bwts-350pxNew ballast water discharge regulation
The timing of the delivery is significant with the IMO Ballast Water Management Convention expected to come into force in November 2016.

The result is that all vessels undergoing their IOPP renewal surveys thereafter will need to comply with new ballast water discharge regulations.

One-stop-shop retrofitting
Gert-Jan Oude Egberink, manager BWTS at Damen, commented: "We’re delighted to see the first of our LoFlo series being prepared for installation. This is all part of the Damen policy of assisting owners in meeting the ballast water management challenges via our worldwide, one-stop-shop BWT retrofitting capability.

According to Egberink Damen's new product makes retrofitting easy within a very short timeframe.

dws-damen-loflo-mercuur-350pxSubmarine support ship HNLMS Mercuur of the Royal Netherlands Navy

Vessels with limited space
With its range of ballast water treatment solutions, Damen is ready to meet the challenges ahead. The LoFlo product, powered by BioSea, is designed to cater to the needs of smaller vessels with limited space down below.

Superyachts, offshore vessels, utility support vessels and auxiliary vessels all fall into this category.

Damen is prepared for the new regulatory environment with LoFlo units capable of treating 30, 60 and 90 m3 per hour respectively using filtration and UV, in addition to its larger capacity products.

Compact arrangement
With most BWTS having a capacity of 100 cubic meter per hour or more, the IMO-type approved LoFlo systems ensure that smaller vessels can avoid unnecessarily high investment cost, power consumption and excessive footprints.

The systems can be supplied in a compact arrangement mounted on a skid for easy and efficient, ‘plug-and-play’ integration on board the vessel, or they can be installed in a modular arrangement.

In order to provide a full range of BWT retrofit solutions Damen works with selected ballast water management partners Trojan Marinex, BioSea and Evoqua Water Technologies.

This news item was originally published on the website of Damen.

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More information
Damen Shipyards Group
Gorinchem, the Netherlands
+31 183 63 99 11
www.damen.com/en