Calgon Carbon Corporation announced today that its Hyde GUARDIAN® Ballast Water Treatment System (BWTS), developed and manufactured by its wholly owned subsidiary, Hyde Marine, Inc., became one of the first BWTS to earn Alternate Management System (AMS) approval from the United States Coast Guard (USCG).
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 1500 ¬m³/hr and 5000 m³/hr will be required to meet USCG Ballast Water Discharge Standards by the time of their first major drydocking after January 1, 2014. "Ship owners 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, 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.
With more than 100 years in the maritime industry and pioneering development of ballast water treatment technologies, Hyde Marine has become a leading U.S. manufacturer and educator on the regulations, technologies, installation experiences, and challenges facing this sector. Since its initial launch in 1998, the Hyde GUARDIAN® BWTS has rapidly emerged as an industry leader featuring mechanical separation with stacked-disc filtration followed by UV disinfection – with more than 240 Hyde GUARDIAN units 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), one of the most challenging ballast water test facilities in the world and proved to meet IMO G8 Guidelines and demonstrated reliable performance in difficult operating conditions.
The chemical free Hyde GUARDIAN BWT process uses efficient, automatic backflushing depth filtration to remove sediment and organisms combined with a powerful ultraviolet disinfection system to prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species. Hyde GUARDIAN BWTS offers a compact, modular design with low power consumption, low pressure drop, and simple, fully automatic operation, making it a technically attractive solution for any type of vessel.
In commenting on the AMS designation, Platz said, "With the release of the U.S. Coast Guard’s final ballast water regulation and along with the pending ratification of the IMO BWM Convention, ship owners are on a strict timeline to install proven BWT technology to bring their vessels into compliance. The USCG’s determination that the Hyde GUARDIAN system is a viable AMS solution validates our ongoing commitment to help the maritime industry achieve ballast water treatment compliance."