Checking ballast water fairly simple; how it was done on the M/V Federal Kivalina
May 28, 08 by TheFleetIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
By TOM WANAMAKER | Source: Watertown Daily News
MONTREAL — Determining the salinity level of water in the 16 ballast tanks of a 600-foot oceangoing cargo ship seems like a monumental task. But in reality it’s not unlike, and almost as easy as, checking the engine oil in a Buick.
And because it guards the entrance to the St. Lawrence Seaway, the only water route into or out of the Great Lakes, the St. Lambert Lock in Montreal offers a perfect inspection site.
“We now know from research and science that salt water is a very effective killer of freshwater organisms.”
On May 5, Terry Jordan, a Seaway Development Corp. marine specialist, boarded the cargo ship M/V Federal Kivalina to inspect the ballast water in its 16 tanks. Because the ship was laden with cargo, all pumpable ballast had been removed from the tanks, leaving 2 to 6 inches of residual water and sediment at the bottom of each one. Fully loaded, the ship’s tanks can hold a combined 12,000 cubic meters of ballast water. In either case, the new regulations required a full inspection.
On deck, Mr. Jordan met with the ship’s bosun, Mohammed Sanghri, who is in charge of the deck crew, to perform the inspection.
Mr. Sanghri uncapped a slender tube, called a sounding pipe, protruding from the tank up through the deck. He then inserted a metal weight…
Read this excellent, detailed story at the Watertown Daily News >>
