FilterSafe expands to meet demand created by ballast water convention
FILTERSAFE, a manufacturer of ballast water filtration equipment, says it is doubling its manufacturing capacity to meet demand that has risen ahead of the introduction of the UN's International Maritime Organisation's (IMO) Ballast Water Management Convention.
This will require all ships to more stringently treat their ballast water to combat marine bio-invasions.
The company aims to double production from 750 ballast filtration systems a year at present to 1,500 in future by employing more staff at its facilities in Hong Kong and Israel and by doubling the size of its manufacturing plant in Israel to cover an area measuring 4,000 square metres.
It said in a statement that demand in East Asia is growing rapidly as new ships are being equipped with ballast treatment systems. 
The International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments (BWM) will come into force 12 months after 30 member nations, representing 35 per cent of global shipping tonnage, have ratified the Convention.
As of January 20, 47 countries, controlling 34.56 per cent of the world's merchant tonnage, had ratified the BWM convention, which will enter into force 12 months after it is ratified by states controlling a combined 35 per cent of the global fleet by tonnage.