Proposal for Ballast-freeing Ship and Studies of its Performance  Seminar

To cope with this new marine environmental problem, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted a new convention in 2004 that regulates the maximum number of marine species in a unit volume of ballast water that is discharged at the destination ports. In order to meet the requirements of the convention, ballast water treatment systems are under development. However, there remain a lot of technological difficulties and problems to be resolved in the development of those systems.

In this presentation, we propose a technological concept that solves this environmental problem from an entirely different viewpoint: namely, a ship that does not transfer ballast water. According to the model experiments and numerical analyses examining the effectiveness of the concept, we confirmed that the proposed system can be a practical solution to the ballast water problem in ships.

 

Biographical note:

Professor Makoto Arai graduated from the department of Naval Architecture, The University of Tokyo, and obtained the degree of Doctor of Engineering from the same University. He is now Professor of the Department of Systems Design for Ocean-Space, Yokohama National University, and Director of the Japan Society of Naval Architects and Ocean Engineers. His main area of research interest includes the design optimization of ships, numerical modeling of hydrodynamic impact loads, and maritime logistics.