Ballast water treatment systems: innovating business models

What is it about?

In this article we address the question of how maritime equipment and service suppliers can organize value-creating activities around the emerging market of ballast water treatment technologies (BWTS). First we explain why ballast water treatment technologies are important for ships: mainly due to an historical problem of invasive species "traveling" in ballast tanks between different geographical regions. As result, many alien species have been introduced in habitats without a natural control for these species, resulting in serious ecological and economical impacts for societies. We then analyze the Danish BWTS cluster, how their organize their relations between equipment suppliers, shipyards and service firms. Based on the results of the Danish BWTS cluster and current business models, we propose a functional product-service system for port-based BWTS, which can provide good opportunities of collaboration among suppliers of equipment and maritime service firms. The model is very relevant for harbours hosting service-oriented firms (i.e. maintenance and repair), and willing to broad their business base.

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Why is it important?

The Ballast Water Convention enters into force in September 2017. From that date forward, most ships in the world (with ballast tanks above 1500 m3) must install ballast water treatment technology. The market for retrofitting existing vessels to comply with the IMO rules is expected to increase. There are concerns about the capacity of shipyards, especially in the EU, for carrying out the necessary installations. In this article, the authors shed light on these issues and propose some ways in which maritime suppliers can benefit from this growing market.