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Safe Bulkers to equip entire fleet with Erma First ballast water system

Safe Bulkers to equip entire fleet with Erma First ballast water system
Safe Bulkers is to equip its entire fleet of 38 vessels with the Erma First Ballast Water Treatment System (BWTS).

The deal comes after Erma First’s BWTS became first full flow electrolysis system to receive US Coast Guard type approval last month. Safe Bulkers said it had “cooperated intensively” with Erma First in recent months to optimise and adapt the system to its vessels.

The system will be fitted to all the shipowner’s 38 vessels with the first installation scheduled for Q1 next year at the company’s next drydocking.

The installations will be spread over a five-year period.

“We decided to install in all our vessels Erma First BWTS, which is designed and produced in Greece, starting at an early stage which provides us with certain commercial and financial advantages, including availability of equipment, minimization of down time, unrestricted worldwide trading the following years and the financial benefits of a block order,” Loukas Barmparis, president of Safe Bulkers said.

Erma First was established in 2009 by a team of specialists in waste and water treatment. The company describes its BWTS technology as a simple solution suitable for all types and sizes of vessels, using 40 µm filtration followed by efficient full flow electrolysis. “Using an active substance that is produced by the method of electrolysis,” it explained, “any danger for re-growth of microorganisms is eliminated.”