USCG lists BWTS gaining AMS approval

APRIL 16, 2013 — The U.S. Coast Guard said yesterday that it has accepted nine ballast water treatment systems (BWTS) as Alternate Management Systems (AMS) in compliance with its 2012 final rule on Standards for Living Organisms in Ships’ Ballast Water Discharged (SLOSBWD) into U.S.

Hyde Guardian BWTS

According to Calgon Carbon Corporation (NYSE: CCC) whose Hyde Marine, Inc, subsidiary manufactures one of nine AMS approved systems, AMS approval is a first step to achieving full USCG Type Approval and is an interim measure that allows these BWTS to be used on vessels for five years after the vessel is required to comply with the USCG Ballast Water Discharge Standards. The five-year period is designed to allow the BWTS manufacturer sufficient time to obtain U.S. Type Approval and to ensure the ship operator’s compliance with U.S. ballast water regulations.

Most vessels operating in U.S. waters with ballast capacities between 1,500 ­cu.m/hr and 5,000 cu.m/hr will be required to meet USCG Ballast Water Discharge Standards by the time of their first major drydocking after January 1, 2014.

“Shipowners and operators seeking to mitigate downtime and ensure timely vessel compliance are encouraged to place orders for BWT systems now before the supply of accepted systems becomes strained,” said John Platz, president of Hyde Marine and Vice President of CCC – UV Technologies Division.

To receive AMS approval from the Coast Guard, says Hyde Marine, a BWTS must have been previously type approved by a foreign administration in accordance with the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments, and the Coast Guard must find the testing performed on the system credible.

The Hyde Guardian BWTS uses mechanical separation with stacked-disc filtration followed by UV disinfection. More than 240 units have been sold to date for installation in various ship types and sizes around the world.

In April 2009, the Hyde Guardian BWTS became one of the first systems to receive IMO Type Approval. It was also the first BWTS accepted into the U.S. Coast Guard’s Shipboard Technology Evaluation Program (STEP), which facilitates the development of effective BWTS technologies for vessel owners seeking alternatives to ballast water exchange. STEP participation is available to all foreign and domestic vessels subject to the Coast Guard’s Ballast Water Management (BWM) regulations.

The Hyde Guardian BWTS was tested and validated at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ). It proved to meet IMO G8 Guidelines and demonstrated reliable performance in difficult operating conditions.

The full list of BWTS gaining AMS approval is shown in the table below: