(MAYNARD, Mass.) — In recent days the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Marine Safety Center has started to include more details about pending applications on its list of type-approved ballast water treatment systems (BWTS). Stakeholders have called for added transparency on these initial applications and any amendments to the approval thereafter. Ecochlor supports the USCG for its efforts to address this issue.
It is important to also understand the variety of reasons why a manufacturer may request amendments for their type-approved system. More specifically, amendments may be requested even though there is no change to the underlying approved technology. For example, on the USCG Marine Safety Center website in the “Under Review” section, the Ecochlor BWTS is listed both as USCG Type Approved, 2017 August and as “pending.” The USCG portal explains the “pending” status as follows: “manufacturers (that) have requested multiple amendments to their type-approval certificates. The first date is the date when the original certificate was issued, and the date in parentheses is the date of the current amendment.”
Ecochlor’s recent request to update the current USCG type approval did not include any changes that would impact the Ecochlor BWTS operation, technology or efficacy. The changes were primarily due to revisions to its operating maintenance safety manual (OMSM). These modifications include updates to approved standard drawings and documents. In addition, updates were made to control software version and components based on manufacturer offerings and fabrication details. This same update documentation has been sent to DNV GL (Norwegian IMO) to align approvals.
For more information, visit www.ecochlor.com.
