World News
Wärtsilä Ballast Water Management System Gains AMS Approval by USCG
Wärtsilä Corp. (Wärtsilä) has announced in an emailed statement that the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) has granted Alternate Management System (AMS) acceptance for use of Wärtsilä's Aquarius EC Ballast Water Management (BWM) system.
The granting of AMS status will allow U.S. and foreign flagged ships to operate Aquarius EC and discharge treated ballast water in U.S. territorial waters for an interim period of five years.
"AMS acceptance is the first stage towards obtaining full USCG type approval," said Wärtsilä.
Wärtsilä added that it expects to have taken all necessary steps to gain full U.S. approval within that five year window.
The Aquarius EC system filters seawater through a 40 micron backwashing screen filter during uptake which is then disinfected using hypochlorite.
Any residual active organisms are neutralised before ballast water is discharged through the use of sodium bisulphite.
The International Maritime Organization (IMO)'s BWM convention, designed to counter the global spread of aquatic organisms through ships' ballast water, is awaiting ratification by 35 percent of the world's shipping tonnage before it becomes law.
The USCG has already introduced BWM legislation for ships operating within U.S. waters.
The IMO legislation will require up to 40,000 vessels to install a BWM system once ratified.
Turkey recently became the latest member to ratify the IMO's BWM convention meaning nations representing 32.54 percent of the world's shipping tonnage have now signed.
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