Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS) has signed a partnership with Turner Designs USA to market its Ballast-Check 2 PAM Fluorometer to shipowners worldwide.

Easy to use, cost effective, and capable of providing rapid results, the handheld device enables crew to check the quality of treated ballast water for compliance with the D2 standard of the IMO’s Ballast Water Management (BWM) Convention.

Turner Design’s fluorometer—widely used by authorities around the world for testing water quality—is simple, uses no chemicals and provides reliable results in less than a minute. It offers shipowners and operators a rapid indication of the efficacy of their ballast water treatment (BWT) systems.

“The BWT segment is still in its infancy and the industry needs to build understanding about systems, and their on-going effectiveness, to ensure compliance with this important new regulation,” said Rune Nygaard, Business Manager, WSS Water Solutions. “The Ballast-Check 2 PAM Fluorometer provides ease, insight and peace of mind. The IMO and USCG are yet to announce an approved measurement methodology, but as both organizations are investigating the use of fluorometry for indicative measurements it makes sense to follow this lead.

“This is a new area for compliance testing,” Nygaard added, “and WSS is keen to be at the vanguard of the industry, providing high quality and readily available technology solutions for our customers worldwide.’’

Ballast-Check 2 is a Pulse Amplitude Modulated (PAM) fluorometer measuring fluorescence emitted by algae in the 10 to 50um size range. It supplements WSS’ existing testing solutions for E Coli and Enterococci bacteria.

IMO’s BWM convention comes into effect 12 months after at least 30 countries representing a combined total gross tonnage of 35 percent of the world’s merchant fleet have ratified it. At present 51 countries representing a combined fleet tonnage of 34.87 percent have done so, with Panama recently announcing its intention to ratify, thus crossing the required threshold, in the coming few months.