Ballast water treatment systems including related apparatus and methods

A marine service vessel for treating discharged ballast water from a ship, said vessel comprising:

• a housing tank positioned within a water treatment processing area associated with the marine service vessel, said housing tank having at least one inlet port and one discharge port, said at least one inlet port being adapted to receive ballast water from a fire hydrant system of a respective ship by connecting a fire hose between a fire hydrant on said respective ship and said at least one inlet port of said housing tank;
• a filter positioned within said housing tank, said filter employed to filter particulate matter from said ballast water received from said respective ship's fire hydrant system;
• and
• a source of electromagnetic radiation maintained within said housing tank for irradiating said ballast water to thereby deactivate biological organisms contained therein.

A method of treating discharged ballast water from a ship using a service vessel, said method comprising the steps of:

• providing a ballast water treatment apparatus on board said service vessel;
• positioning said service vessel adjacent a respective ship requiring ballast water treatment;
• and
• directing ballast water from a ballast tank of said respective ship into said ballast water treatment apparatus on board said service vessel to thereby treat said respective ship's ballast water before discharging said ship's ballast water.

A method of deriving financial revenue for services provided for treating discharged ballast water from a ship using a service vessel, said method comprising the steps of:

• positioning said service vessel adjacent a respective ship requiring ballast water treatment;
• directing ballast water from a ballast tank of a respective ship into a ballast water treatment apparatus maintained on board said service vessel to thereby treat said respective ship's ballast water before discharging said ship's ballast water into the environment;
• determining an amount of time required to treat said respective ship's ballast water;
• and
• calculating a water treatment service fee based at least in part on said amount of time required to treat said respective ship's ballast water.

A method of deriving financial revenue for services provided for treating discharged ballast water from a ship using a service vessel, said method comprising the steps of:

• positioning said service vessel adjacent a respective ship requiring ballast water treatment;
• directing ballast water from a ballast tank of a respective ship into a ballast water treatment apparatus maintained on board said service vessel to thereby treat said respective ship's ballast water before discharging said ship's ballast water into the environment;
• determining a total volume of treated ballast water processed from said respective ship's ballast water tanks;
• and
• calculating a water treatment service fee based at least in part on said total volume of treated ballast water.

A method of treating discharged ballast water from a ship using a dock-side service vehicle, said method comprising the steps of:

• providing a ballast water treatment apparatus in association with said dock-side service vehicle;
• positioning said ballast water treatment apparatus adjacent a respective ship requiring ballast water treatment;
• and
• directing ballast water from a ballast tank of said respective ship into said ballast water treatment apparatus associated with said dock-side service vehicle to thereby treat said respective ship's ballast water before discharging said ship's ballast water into an open water environment.

A method of deriving financial revenue for services provided for treating discharged ballast water from a ship using a dock-side service vehicle, said method comprising the steps of:

• positioning said dock-side service vehicle adjacent a respective ship requiring ballast water treatment;
• directing ballast water from a ballast tank of a respective ship into a ballast water treatment apparatus maintained in association with said dock-side service vehicle to thereby treat said respective ship's ballast water before discharging said ship's ballast water into an open environment;
• determining an amount of time required to treat said respective ship's ballast water;
• and
• calculating a water treatment service fee based at least in part on said amount of time required to treat said respective ship's ballast water.

A method of deriving financial revenue for services provided for treating discharged ballast water from a ship using a dock-side service vehicle, said method comprising the steps of:

• positioning said dock-side service vehicle adjacent a respective ship requiring ballast water treatment;
• directing ballast water from a ballast tank of a respective ship into a ballast water treatment apparatus maintained in association with said dock-side service vehicle to thereby treat said respective ship's ballast water before discharging said ship's ballast water into an open environment;
• determining a total volume of treated ballast water processed from said respective ship's ballast water tanks;
• and
• calculating a water treatment service fee based at least in part on said total volume of treated ballast water.

A method of processing ballast water discharged from a ship, said method comprising:

• accessing ballast water requiring treatment from a ship's ballast tank through a fire hydrant system of said ship;
• directing said ballast water from said fire hydrant system through a filter to thereby remove undesired particulate matter from said ballast water and thereby generate filtered ballast water;
• and
• allowing discharge of the filtered ballast water into a pre-selected open water environment.

A method of using the fire hydrant system of a ship to treat ballast water, said method comprising the steps of:

• accessing ballast water requiring treatment from a ship's ballast tank through at least one fire hydrant located on a deck of said ship;
• directing said ballast water from said at least one fire hydrant through a filter to remove undesired particulate matter from said ballast water and thereby generate filtered ballast water;
• and
• allowing discharge of the filter ballast water into a pre-selected open water environment.