It can be a false economy to buy a ballast water management system, or BWMS, based purely on cost if that decision affects the operational integrity and compliance of a fleet, said chief executive of the Norwegian BWMS maker Optimarin, Tore Andersen. “Price and value are two very different things,” he said. “when it comes to ballast water treatment, the value of real expertise is priceless.”
In an interview prepared by his marketing consultant he advised shipowners not to choose the cheapest systems but to “choose the right ones”. He mentioned an unnamed customer that had asked the company to remove a system that had been fitted to a ship as a newbuild and replace it with Optimarin equipment instead. “The original system was inexpensive but, due to technical problems threatening vessel compliance and therefore operations, [it] turned out to be horrendous value for money.”