Serious Questions Surround BWMS Testing
Serious questions have been raised regarding the testing of ballast water management systems (BWMSs). In order for a BWMS manufacturer to sell its equipment for use on commercial vessels operating in U.S. waters, the equipment must be tested in accordance with U.S. Coast Guard and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requirements and the equipment must then obtain a type approval certificate from the Coast Guard. To date, type approval certificates have been issued to six manufacturers and others are in the pipeline.
MERC to Cease BWMS Type Approval Testing
Maritime Environmental Resource Center will no longer conduct Type Approval Certification testing of ballast water management systems. The Maritime Environment Resource Center (MERC) was established in 2008 by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) to facilitate the development and adoption of Green Ship and Green Port innovations with a primary goal of expanding on over twenty years of research addressing the issues of ballast water invasive species. Invasive species introduction through the release of ship’s ballast water have enormous ecological and economic impacts on coastal waters around the world.
VOS BWTS to Be Tested on APL Containership
Shipboard testing to be conducted on the vessel APL England as NEI takes the next step towards full USCG Type Approval for its Venturi Oxygen Stripping (VOS) Ballast Water Treatment System. NEI Treatment Systems announced that the container vessel APL England will be used for the shipboard testing phase of their VOS Ballast Water Treatment System (BWTS), to begin in the early summer of 2015. The APL England is a 67.9K DWT container vessel, trading between China and multiple ports on the U.S. West Coast. The vessel utilizes a VOS system operating at 1,250 m3/hr., and was installed seven years ago. The retrofit project was completed as an in-service “riding” installation.
MERC BWT Testing Facility is U.S. Coast Guard Approved
Ballast water treatment system testing facility earns U.S. Coast Guard approval. The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science's Maritime Environmental Resource Center (MERC) has partnered with NSF International, Great Ships Initiative and Retlif Testing Laboratories to become the first U.S. Coast Guard-approved Independent Laboratory for evaluation and testing of technologies designed for treatment of ballast water on ships. Ballast water carries non-native species from around the world can pose economic, ecological and public health risks. U.S.
Work Boats Exchange: Stage Set for Top Owners, Suppliers
Commercial fleet owners and marine suppliers are preparing for the industry’s first Work Boats Exchange, a hosted buyer event to be held April 9-12 at the Ritz-Carlton Fort Lauderdale. The first-of-its-kind event is not a traditional trade show, but rather a high-level, working business meeting, matching commercial fleet owners with senior-level suppliers, who are seeking to help them operate their businesses more efficiently, according to Robert Ingraham, Chief Executive Officer of Global Exchange Events, organizers of the event. The Exchange will enable fleet owners to sit down across the table in pre-arranged meetings with leading marine suppliers for 20 minutes at a time.
