Ballast Water Monitoring Systems

Ballast water is essential for safe and efficient shipping operations and stabilizing steel-hulled vessels at sea. It provides a variety of critical functions, such as maintaining balance, stability, and structural integrity on non-cargo voyages or when cargo is unloaded. Ballast water is also used to compensate for fuel and water consumption during at-sea operations.

While the benefits of ballast water are numerous, it can also pose serious ecological, economic, and health problems when marine species carried in a ships’ ballast water are transported to a new location. Bacteria, microbes, small invertebrates, eggs, cysts, and larvae of various species can be transferred from their native environment to a new geographic area. Once there they can reproduce and become invasive, out-compete native species, and multiply into pest proportions. The effects can be devastating, and data shows that bio-invasions are both on the rise and continue to impact new locations.