DESMI Ocean Guard’s RayClean Ballast Water Treatment System (BWTS) has earned Alternate Management System (AMS) acceptance from the United States Coast Guard (USCG).
On January 30, 2015, the USCG granted AMS acceptance to RayClean BWTS, the system’s developer DESMI Ocean Guard A/S announced today.
The AMS acceptance covers all salinities ranging from freshwater to marine water, something that only eight out of 52 issued AMS acceptances have achieved to date.
In addition, the RayClean BWTS AMS acceptance contains no limitation with regard to temperature of the water to be treated. The acceptance also covers a wide UV-Transmission range, meaning the RayClean system can treat extremely dirty and unclear water.
The development of the RayClean BWTS was based upon experience from the development and testing of DESMI’s OxyClean BWTS, which was the first system in the world to receive the IMO and AMS Approvals in all water salinities. During the development of the RayClean BWTS focus has been on developing a system that is simple, will work in all salinities and temperatures, and in the most challenging unclear water conditions. Furthermore, the challenges above should be met by use of the lowest possible power consumption.
Rasmus Folsø, CEO of DESMI Ocean Guard A/S, said, “The general awareness about limitations of type approved ballast water treatment systems is growing amongst shipowners. They have realized that the risk associated with having a BWTS on a vessel, which is not approved for treatment of water with low salinity or low temperature, is not acceptable. It can lead to fines, detainments in port and ultimately require installation of a new system.”
The USCG AMS acceptance is an interim acceptance that is valid for five years after the date where a given vessel must be equipped with a USCG type 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 said it is working on obtaining a full USCG type approval for the RayClean BWTS system. All the required testing has been completed according to both IMO guidelines and USCG requirements, and under the supervision of DNV, which is a USCG recognized Independent Lab. This means we are in pole position for obtaining USCG type approval for the RayClean system.