Hyundai Global Service, an integrated service business of Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, and Alfa Laval, a Swedish ship equipment manufacturer, made a mutual cooperation agreement on February 10 for ballast water treatment system (BWTS) retrofit. Both companies agreed to enhance their collaboration for entering BWTS market, dealing with the new International Maritime Organization (IMO)'s regulation on Ballast Water Management (BWM), which is supposed to require that all vessels going into deep sea have in-built BWTS from September 8, 2017. Hyundai Global Service has provided BWTS retrofit service for the existing ships in line with the ratification of IMO's BWM Convention and the U.S. Coast Guard's (USCG's) relevant regulation. Through the integrated review on additional device, based on its shipbuilding experience, the Korean company is providing retrofit service that has high quality and reliability. Alfa Laval's 'PureBallast' is a high-performance UV BWTS product, designed for compact flexibility and type approved by IMO and the USCG. Both companies plans to carry out joint sales activities in BWTS retrofit market and provide services based on BWTS optimized for each customer. KOMEC Writing by Jeff Kim jeff@asiasis.com