Preparing for the new wastewater requirements, Croatian ferry operator Jadrolinija has retrofitted three of its roll-on/roll-off passenger (RoPax) vessels with ACO Marine’s wastewater treatment units.
The three 87.6m sister vessels, Sveti Krševan, Supetar and Cres, were each equipped with a Clarimar MF-2 biological-type sewage treatment plant at the Dalmont shipyard in Kraljevica, Croatia.
Italy’s La Fornitrice, ACO Marine’s engineering partner in the region, completed the commissioning of the system aboard Cres, the final ship in the series, in May. Equipment for all three retrofits was delivered to the yard between December 2018 and January 2019.
The contract also included the supply of detailed installation drawings to the shipyard and the issuance of the requisite approval certificates from the Croatian Ship Register (HRB).
Prior to the installation and commissioning of the Clarimar units, the 600-passenger capacity ferries did not treat wastewater streams but instead collected the effluent in holding tanks.
“The storage of a vessel’s wastewater streams in onboard holding tanks is not the most operationally-efficient solution. The use of port reception facilities can be costly and also delay ship turn-around-times,” Mark Beavis, Managing Director, ACO Marine, said.
As explained, Jadrolinija’s decision to retrofit its ship trio with a wastewater treatment unit was led by regulatory necessity. ACO technology was selected through a public tender.
Until recently, Croatia did not have strict or detailed regulations governing the discharge of wastewater into its coastal waters. However, in 2015 Croatian authorities completed the Coastal City Pollution Control Project, putting an end to indiscriminate discharging practices, and mandating solutions for treating and monitoring wastewater discharges.
“We anticipate a run of orders from Croatia-based ship operators as they look to retrofit wastewater treatment systems to meet the new requirements,” Beavis added.
According to ACO Marine, the successful installation of the technology resulted in La Fornitrice winning another national tender for the retrofitting of the Clarimar system to an additional five Jadrolinija’s ferries.
These additional five vessels of the same class – Hrvat, Juraj Dalmatinac, Marjan, Jadran, and Biokovo – will each be fitted out with larger Clarimar MF-3 units, which La Fornitrice will supply from mid-October 2019.
Jadrolinija manages a fleet of more than 50 passenger ferries operating between the mainland and the Croatian islands in the Adriatic Sea.