Germany’s Hagedorn Products has added the commissioning, maintenance and servicing of BIO-SEA ballast water treatment systems to its existing sales agreement with France’s BIO-UV Group.

Close to the major shipping hubs of Hamburg and Bremerhaven, Hemmoor-based Hagedorn will now provide BIO-SEA service support to new and existing customers throughout Germany, its border countries, and Finland.

Commenting on the partnership, Maxime Dedeurwaerder, Business Director, BIO-SEA by BIO-UV Group, said: “Hagedorn has a successful track record promoting the full range of BIO-SEA UV-based ballast water treatment systems to shipowners, ship managers and shipyards across the region, so we are delighted to extend the company’s remit to include maintenance services.”

The renewed and expanded agreement is part of BIO-SEA’s wider expansion strategy to meet growing market demand for in-service ballast water treatment system services.

“We are delighted to extend our collaboration with Olaf Hagedorn and his team to strengthen BIO-SEA’s position in this booming market,” said Dedeurwaerder. “The majority of shipowners have of course installed a BWTS but operators will now need global support to troubleshoot, maintain, and service their systems on a regular basis.”

Dedeurwaerder anticipates that more and more vessels will also need specialist support with annual compliance checks.

“It is anticipated that Port State Control BWTS compliance inspections will increase at ports around the world in coming years,” he said, “so we do advise the regular testing and maintenance of installed systems as a matter of course.”

While annual system performance tests are currently mandatory under USCG regulations they are recommended by the International Maritime Organization.

Hagedorn Products Managing Director Olaf Hagedorn said: “We are pleased to expand the relationship with BIO-UV Group and look forward to assisting new and existing BIO-SEA customers with their BWTS installation requirements and on-going maintenance needs.

“Our engineering teams and service personnel have completed BIO-UV Group’s technical training course and are now approved to provide a complete one-stop-shop BIO-SEA solution.”

Hagedorn furthered: “For ballast water treatment system manufacturers it is necessary to establish a network of service centres at key maritime locations around the world to support vessel operations. With a service partner like Hagedorn – close to the major ports of Hamburg, Bremerhaven, Cuxhaven – BIO-SEA can support shipowners in the region at short notice.”