Adaptation of port waste reception facilities to ballast water treatment system: Turkish port perspective

The introduction of invasive marine species into a new environment by ballast water attached to ship hulls has been identified as one of the four greatest threats to the world's oceans. Ballast water is water carried by ships to ensure stability, trim, and structural integrity. Shipping transports over 80% of the world's commodities, and each year transfers approximately 3 to 5 billion tons of ballast water internationally, which is, absolutely essential to the safe and efficient operation of modern shipping, providing balance and stability to unladen ships. However, it may also pose a serious ecological threat to the marine environment. The transferred species including bacteria, microbes, small invertebrates, eggs, cysts and larvae of various species may survive to establish a reproductive population in the host environment, becoming invasive, out-competing native species, and multiplying into pest proportions. Ballast water treatment is a technology for the treatment of ship ballast water from aquatic invasive species. Port waste reception facility should be modified to include ship ballast water treatment during this transitional phase until 2017. It provides onshore facilities in ports or terminals to transfer ballast water for cleaning or storage. This paper describes ballast water management, in general, and gives perspectives for the Turkish ports, and briefly suggests that the waste reception facilities must be modified for ballast water treatment.