Page 14 - Port of Baltimore Magazine Nov/Dec 2011
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The Port of Baltimore
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November/December 2011
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Environmental Stewardship at the Port of Baltimore
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Green
Port
BY NANCY MENEFEE JACKSON
BILL MCALLEN
COURTESY OF MPA
Science. MERC is supported by the U.S.
Maritime Administration and the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“The Maryland Port Administration is
proud to be involved in this effort,” said
MPA Deputy Executive Director M. Kathleen
Broadwater. “The MPA is committed to
being a good environmental steward.”
She detailed the many achievements
of the Port, which handled 32 million
tons of cargo last year and this year
surpassed New York as the No. 1 port for
automobiles while also leading the nation
in shipping farm and heavy machinery.
But Broadwater noted, “More than 2,000
ships visit Baltimore each year, and those
ships certainly can bring invasive species
through their ballast water.”
Eliminating that threat is part of the
Port’s environmental commitment.
“We work very hard to be a world-class
port,” Broadwater said. “This environmen-
tal center is another way we are known on
the world stage of shipping.”
Two huge simulated ballast tanks, like
those found in ships, sit atop the platform,
which is 155 feet long and 50 feet wide.
When the tanks are empty, it draws 2 feet;
with the tanks full, it draws 10 feet.
Flexible pipes bring water onto the
platform, and then the water is handled
by a series of color-coded pipes that
allow researchers to separate water into
untreated, treated and control water.
The $2.7 million platform includes an
onboard laboratory, office, and sampling
and storage containers. Researchers can
determine the best way to treat ballast
water and provide information to tech-
nology developers, vendors, regulatory
agencies and ship builders. The fact that
the platform is mobile allows for waters
to be tested in different areas of the
Chesapeake Bay, where salinities and
biological communities differ.
Mario Tamburri, Director of MERC and
a professor at the University of Maryland
Center for Environmental Science, noted
that the mobile testing platform “is a real
step forward in protecting the waters of
the Chesapeake Bay while supporting
innovation and economic growth.”
U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, who
represents Maryland’s 7th District and
MERC Director Mario Tamburri, with back to
camera, speaks during the recent dedication of
the Mobile Ballast Water Treatment Test Platform
in Baltimore.
A
t first glance, the Mobile Ballast
Water Treatment Test Platform
appears to be a somewhat
ungainly vessel. But it
is
a vessel — with a
capability that makes it one of the world’s
foremost research and testing facilities.
More than 100 people, including
a contingent of media, turned out on
September 27 for the dedication of the
vessel at Baltimore’s Pier V.
Built atop a barge, the testing platform
is a project of the Maritime Environmental
Resource Center (MERC), which is a
partnership between the Maryland Port
Administration (MPA) and University
of Maryland Center for Environmental
BALTIMORE DEDICATED
to Testing Ballast Water
