USCG Approves DESMI Ocean Guard for All Salinities
On October 11, 2013, DESMI Ocean Guard’s ballast water treatment system OxyClean was granted U.S. Coast Guard AMS acceptance. The AMS acceptance covers all salinities ranging from freshwater to marine water. This is the first time the USCG has released an AMS acceptance that covers all salinities, as all previously released acceptances are valid in only marine and brackish water, and hence not valid in freshwater.
Since the very beginning of the development of the OxyClean system, DESMI said it has been focused on developing a system that will work in all salinities. Many of the world’s largest ports, such as Shanghai, Rotterdam, Bremerhaven and Hamburg, are located in river estuaries and often the water here is freshwater. If a vessel takes on ballast water in such a freshwater harbor it will not be allowed to discharge the ballast water to the sea in U.S. territory, unless it has a Ballast Water Treatment System onboard which is approved by the USCG for use in fresh water. DESMI said it is the first in the world to receive the USCG AMS acceptance in all salinities and its OxyClean system is the only system in the world that meets this requirement.
The USCG AMS acceptance is an interim acceptance that is valid five years after the date where a given vessel must be equipped with a USCG approved ballast water treatment system. These dates are defined in the USCG Final Rule regarding discharge of ballast water, which entered into force in June 2012.
DESMI Ocean Guard is already working on obtaining a full USCG type approval for the OxyClean system. In addition, our new RayClean system has been tested in all three salinity ranges and all testing has been done according to both IMO guidelines and USCG requirements, and under the supervision of DNV, which is a USCG recognized Independent Lab. This means we expect USCG type approval for the RayClean system once the USCG starts issuing type approvals for ballast water treatment systems.
DESMI Ocean Guard A/S was established by A.P. Moller – Maersk A/S, DESMI A/S and UltraAqua A/S in 2009. The company is located in Aalborg, Denmark, and its main activity is development of systems for removal of living organisms from ballast water discharged by ships. Such systems are required to be installed on the world fleet according to the IMO (International Maritime Organization) ballast water management convention and the USCG Final Rule “Standards for Living Organisms in Ships’ Ballast Water Discharged in U.S. Waters. It is anticipated that approx. 50,000 vessels need to install ballast water treatment systems in the period up to 2021.
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