CM Hammar, of Göteborg, Sweden announced that fake copies of their Hydrostatic Release Unit, the Hammar H20, are being produced, posing a serious safety hazard.
The copy is almost identical to the original product, with Hammar’s logo and address on the labels, however, the fake does not work. Hammar tested several of the copies. Not one of them worked properly according to SOLAS’ specification. The fake H20 will not release a life raft or an Epirb.
Hammar stated that they see this as a very serious situation. There could be a number of ships at sea that are sailing with fake Hydrostatic Release Units. If any of these ships were to sink, there will be no life rafts or Epirbs to help to rescue the seafarers in danger.
Make sure your Hammar H20 is legitimate:
• Always purchase your products through approved distributors or authorized service points for life rafts and Epirbs
• Make sure that you receive the Hammar multilingual product manual and a raft label with each unit for life raft H20 or Hammar marking instruction for Epirb H20.
• If you check on the underside of the Hammar H20 you should be able to find five fabrication marks on all units produced since April 2006. Units produced before that date have only two fabrication marks.
• The serial number and production date can always be verified by contacting CM Hammar at info@cmhammar.com.
• The fabrication mark on the upper side of the unit must always point directly towards the rope.
(www.cmhammar.com)