It was at the UK Chamber of Shipping and Fathom Maritime Intelligence’s joint Ballast Water Forum held in London yesterday that Meridena Kauffman, United States Coast Guard (USCG) delivered insight into the USCG ballast water requirements ahead of MEPC 69.
Kauffman revealed that there are currently 19 ballast water treatment systems (BWTS) going through the USCG Type Approval process. Interestingly, 9 of these BWTS are UV-treatment based and the other 10 are systems are ones that use electrolysis, deoxygenation, electrochlorination and other active substance-based treatment methods.
When questioned about the status of these in-progress Type Approvals and when the industry might see the first Type Approval being granted, Kauffman responded that due to the fact that the USCG does not control the testing process they could not pinpoint when one may cross the line. Especially as the testing process and scheduling is organised between the manufacturers and laboratories independently of USCG involvement.
She also spoke of how the type of application for Type Approval that is submitted can really make a difference to the length of procedure. She stressed that having a good completed application can speed up the process and drive the likelihood of approval (whether it is as an Alternate Management System (AMS) or as Type Approved).
When questioned about the future of Type Approval and AMS acceptance, Kauffman assured that although there is still some uncertainty as to the exact process, especially as no systems have received Type Approval to date, the USCG will not start to issue Type Approvals and then simply turn off the ability to issue AMS acceptance, this is because they want to be as reliable and practical as they can.
However, she did state that once enforced and systems start to receive USCG Type Approval, more and more details will be required for submission and testing may become even tougher.
Kauffman also stated that the USCG is currently putting together a compliance scheme that is thought to be similar to the 4-stage approach for Port State Control (PSC) with sampling to occur onboard. However, she stressed that this is still at a very uncertain stage.
Who is responsible for system compliance was a key question that was asked with her response being that after 5 years there is likely to be an update required or a recertification. She said that if there are changes made to the system as well there is potential for retest or the need to apply for recertification but at the moment this is still being discussed by the USCG and as there are no Type Approvals, the finalisation of follow up procedures has not been determined.
One of the final points that Kauffman made was in relation to systems having AMS approval but not being able to acquire Type Approval after 5 years. According to the USCG, the exact procedure is still under discussion but it is perhaps likely to involve application for extension with this being heavily emphasised by the USCG representative.
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