June 2012

Final approval recommendation

It is with great pleasure we can announce that the IMO Ballast Water Working Group (BWWG) under GESAMP has concluded their evaluation of our application for Final Approval, and their recommendation is that DESMI Ocean Guard should be granted Final Approval at the IMO MEPC64 Assembly, October 1’st – 5’th 2012. In the past recommendations from the BWWG have always been adhered to at the MEPC assembly.

This represents an important milestone for DESMI Ocean Guard A/S who now expects to have its ballast water treatment system fully approved and certified shortly after the MEPC64 meeting in October 2012. The recommendation for Final Approval from the GESAMP BWWG is a testimony that the treatment system does not introduce any risks to the environment, the ship or the crew.

In the meantime DESMI Ocean Guard has now concluded all required land-based and shipboard testing with very positive results. As one among very few system suppliers, and the only one with a system based on UV-treatment, DESMI Ocean Guard has successfully conducted land-based tests according to IMO requirements also in fresh water.

Fresh water has turned out to be the most demanding water quality for ballast water treatment for several reasons:

Electrolysis based systems require salt in the water in order to generate chlorine. Hence, in fresh water salt must be added to the ballast water or other solutions must be implemented
UV-based systems are challenged by the fact that fresh water is often very coloured which results in poor ability of the UV light to penetrate deep into the water. DESMI Ocean Guard has shown that this can be effectively dealt with by careful selection of the employed UV-lamps combined with appropriate design of the UV-reactor.
Freshwater organisms are normally “softer” than saltwater organisms which mean they will more easily squeeze through the filters used by the majority of system suppliers. Again DESMI Ocean Guard has shown that this challenge can be overcome by use of a highly efficient and unique filter concept which is patent-pending.

In view of the above DESMI Ocean Guard is confident that the system being offered to the industry is highly efficient, safe and reliable. It will be able to comply with the IMO discharge standards even in the very difficult water qualities present in several of the world’s major ports.

DESMI Ocean Guard A/S was established by A.P. Moller – Maersk A/S, DESMI A/S and Skjølstrup & Grønborg ApS in 2009. The company head office is located in Aalborg, Denmark and its main purpose is to develop and market systems for the treatment of ballast water according to the IMO “Ballast Water Management Convention”.