MSC Caledonia II, formerly named Caledonia has been retrofitted with a BIO-SEA ballast water treatment system in a scope of supply that marks the successful completion of BIO-UV Group’s first full turnkey BWTS project.

The 3,5079dwt general cargo ship was retrofitted in Port Khalid, Sharjah, UAE, with a BIO-SEA B03-0450 FX modular system just prior to the vessel’s sale to Mediterranean Shipping Company .

The France-based UV water treatment specialist introduced its turnkey BWTS retrofit capability in October last year, with the addition of 3D laser scanning and modelling to its BIO-SEA engineering and design services.

“This new service was a fundamental to the swift completion of this time-sensitive project,” said BIO-SEA by BIO-UV Group Technical Director Florian Cortes.

“The lead time for engineering, system building, and final installation and commissioning was very tight due to the vessel’s schedule. But the pre-installation engineering work we carried out allowed the customer to prefabricate the piping elements, significantly reducing installation and drydock time.”

Maxime Dedeurwaerder, Business Director – BIO-SEA by BIO-UV Group, added: “This was the first project for our new turnkey service, which included basic and detailed drawings, system design and engineering, installation, commissioning, documentation submissions and crew training.”

Caledonia was built in the year 2002 so inevitably some drawings were missing.  The 3D laser scanning, however, provided a complete picture of the available space and helped facilitate a successful and timely installation.

“The customer was able to source all prefabricated piping ahead of the BIO-SEA installation, which is essential to the accuracy of the engineering plan and drawings we supplied. It was a very smooth installation,” said Dedeurwaerder.

The BWTS was successfully commissioned in February, after which the company’s ballast water experts trained the ship’s crew to operate and maintain a BIO-SEA system for optimum ballast water treatment performance.

Shahram Khosrowabadi, Technical Superintendent, Nordic Hamburg Shipmanagement, the vessel’s former ship management company, said: “First of all let me thank BIO-UV Group for the good co-operation and guidance to the crew on board Caledonia. We received very positive feedback from all onboard. BIO-UV Group’s new turnkey BWTS retrofit service helped use reduce BWTS installation time, while the 3D modelling helped us find the optimum location for the BWTS.”

A BIO-SEA modular system is specially designed for retrofit projects and can treat flow rates from 13 to 2100m3/h per ballast pump. All components are delivered separately in order to adapt to the available space in the ship