Korean JV to Develop Container Ship Without Ballast Water

[Brief] A new project is being launched in Korea to develop environmentally sensitive ships that operate with minimal or no ballast water and no ballast water discharges. According to the JV, the project will be an important step to help minimize the use of ballast water that threatens the world’s coastal and marine environments.

The project, which will be undertaken jointly by the Korean Register of Shipping, Hyundai Mipo Dockyard, and the Korea Marine Transport Co. will explore the stability, suitability, and validity of the design and verify it in accordance with applicable rules and relevant international standards. They anticipate completing the designs by the end of 2020, and that a basic classification certificate for the optimized container carrier design will be granted for the design to proceed into construction.

As a basis for the research, the companies will be developing the design as applied to a class of 1,800 TEU container ships. Under the Memorandum of Understanding, the basic design of the container ship will be developed and then reviewed by the Korean Register of Shipping. 

The effort will build on Hyundai Mipo Dockyard’s successful construction of three 7,500-cbm (m3) grade LNG bunkering vessel completed for Germany’s Bernhard Schulte. These were the first vessels to employ the design, which the partnership will now seek to expand to the container vessels. The shipyard's goal is to build its leader as a supplier of advanced ship designs.