Determination of the Appropriate Ballast Water Treatment Systems Based on the Voyage Regions for Turkish Shipowners' Companies

Ships must be equipped with ballast water treatment systems to comply with the D-2 standard of the Ballast Water Management Convention. It is required that the adaptation processes of all ships must be completed by September 8, 2024, according to the timetable created by the International Maritime Organization. There are many ballast water treatment systems that shipowners' companies can adopt in the market. The characteristics of the treatment methods used in these systems are different from one another. There are strengths and weaknesses relative to each method. In this process, the choice of one of these ballast water treatment systems is a perplexing problem for shipowners' companies, whose ships have different tonnage and voyage regions. In this context, this study aims to clarify criteria used in the selection of a ballast water treatment system by Turkish shipowners' companies based on the voyage regions of ships. The relative weight of criteria for both international transporting companies and coastal transporting companies are calculated using analytical hierarchy process. Consequently, the most suitable ballast water treatment systems for these two companies are determined using both Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution and VIKOR, and the factors that play a role in this choice were discussed comparatively.