South Korean companies feature prominently among the world’s manufacturers of ballast water treatment systems (BWTS), with no fewer than 17 systems from 13 South Korean manufacturers listed in this year’s edition of Ballast Water Treatment Technology, a guide published earlier this year as a supplement to Marine Propulsion.
Most of those systems have secured type-approval from a flag state but US legislation requires that systems also be approved by the USCG to be used in US waters. This will take some time to accomplish so, in the meantime, the USCG may accept BWTS that have been type-approved by another flag state as meeting IMO’s Ballast Water Management Convention criteria under what it terms the Alternate Management System (AMS).
At the time the BWTT guide was published, the first nine AMS approvals had been granted, but only one of them was from a South Korean company – NK’s BlueBallast. Since then, it has been joined by two more South Korean manufacturers – Panasia, which was granted AMS status in late April, and Hyundai Heavy Industries, which followed in late June.
Panasia offers two BWTS. It was its GloEn Patrol that secured AMS status, becoming the first UV-based device on the USCG’s list, just days after announcing a retrofit contract for the system. That installation will be on the 13,000 dwt general cargo ship Asian Naga, bringing Panasia its first Japanese customer. The ship operates in the south east Asian region but, with its AMS accreditation, Panasia hopes to expand its market. Its other BWTS, GloEn Saver, is still awaiting USCG approval.
HHI also offers two BWTS and its electrolysis-based HiBallast system was granted AMS status in late June, along with its explosion-proof variant, HiBallast-EX. The company is now aiming to win USCG approval for its EcoBallast system, which sterilises sea water by using ultraviolet light, and hopes to achieve this during the first half of 2014.
HHI emphasised the significance of this achievement in a statement announcing the USCG approval, saying that it expects it to play “a positive role for the company to win more HiBallast orders for ships operating on US routes.”MP
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