Wärtsilä's Ballast Water System Earns USCG AMS Acceptance
Wärtsilä has been granted Alternate Management System (AMS) acceptance for its AQUARIUS UV Ballast Water Management System (BWMS) by the United States Coastguard (USCG). This allows all U.S. and foreign flag ships fitted with the Wärtsilä AQUARIUS UV BWMS to operate in U.S. territorial waters and to discharge its treated ballast water for an interim period of up to five years from the ship specific implementation date.
AMS acceptance is the first stage towards obtaining full USCG type approval. Wärtsilä anticipates having all activities necessary to gain full U.S. type approval completed within the five year interim period.
Based on an evaluation of the Wärtsilä AQUARIUS UV BWMS test data by the USCG, AMS acceptance has been granted for use over the full range of water salinities, i.e. fresh, brackish and sea water. As one of only two AMS accepted systems without salinity restrictions, the Wärtsilä solution permits ships fitted with the system to operate in the Great Lakes region, which is important for operators in this challenging environment.
Wärtsilä has already delivered the Wärtsilä AQUARIUS UV system for four new platform supply vessels (PSVs) currently being built for US based Tidewater Marine LLC, one of the leading providers of offshore service vessels to the global energy industry. In addition, the Wärtsilä AQUARIUS UV system has been retrofitted to two LPG carriers for Chemgas BV, and is being installed on an LPG carrier owned by Carbofin SpA currently trading in US waters.
As part of the Wärtsilä Partnership program, the ship owner has access to technology choice, offering filtration with either ultra-violet (UV) or electro-chlorination (EC) ballast water treatment. Wärtsilä is preparing an AMS application for its AQUARIUS EC BWMS so as to provide customers with fully approved technology options upon completion of the approval process.
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