When marine tourism leaves more than a drop in the ocean

The coastline around Croatia is renowned for its crystal-clear seas attracting large numbers of charter yachts, cruise ships, and pleasure craft.

Yet the majority of these vessels are inadvertently polluting the waters they operate in, emitting dirty water into the oceans. Regularly bilge water, which is a toxic brew of oil, diesel and micro plastics, and grey water, which is the wastewater from sinks, showers, laundry and galleys and contains a mix of detergents, food particles, pathogens, microfibres are discharged overboard.

Croatia has established a Maritime Code, which bans the discharge of any substance that pollutes the sea from vessels operating in its waters, but to date, this legislation has been hard to enforce. Vessels either have to install grey water holding tanks onboard or not discharge bilges so they have to plan their routes around approved pump out stations.

Now a team of experts from Croatia have implemented a solution using Wave International’s MiniBOSS bilge water filter system, designed to automatically prevent vessels from emitting overboard pollution.  Most importantly, it passes the stringent testing procedures and standards set by the Croatian Register of Shipping Module B and Module D certification designed to enforcement prevention of pollution across the region.

Torden Marine, the approved distributor for Wave International, combined its expertise with locally-based installation company Solsticij, to fit a charter superyacht that operates in the Adriatic Sea with a Wave MiniBOSS bilge water system.  This system, also known as an oily water separator, automatically filters out all pollutants from the vessel’s bilge water whilst at sea, without requiring a holding tank, emitting legally approved clean water from its bilges.  This compact and reliable solution saves space and weight, and most importantly means the vessel is free to sail wherever it likes, not being required to travel to pump out stations whilst on charter.

Miran Grom from Torden Marine says the project to fit Superyacht ORIY with a bilge water filter system that meets the stringent requirements of the Croatian Register of Shipping was achieved by bringing together a number of Croatian based experts, domestic subcontractors and local suppliers. “The issue of overboard pollution at sea is critical.  From the very original request, we had to find the right solution, manage the design and create the technical drawings and then implement the installation.  The project required a high level of input with extensive product testing to obtain the guaranteed proof that the system would work in order to achieve the all-important certification.  Knowing we had the right product solution with the Wave MiniBOSS, we were delighted to work with Solsticij as our partner on this project.”

Torden Marine was recently appointed as the distributor for Wave International covering Croatia, Slovenia and Monte Negro.  The company is recognised as a leading supplier of world-renowned brands, with an outstanding reputation for excellent support and service. The successful installation of the Wave MiniBOSS system on S/Y ORIY has also demonstrated the company’s ability to work with local talented design and installation partners to solve a problem which, if not tackled, could result in a real degradation of the waters for which the region is famed.