The company has adopted an ‘in tank-in voyage’ approach to ballast water treatment- particularly relevant to the needs of large tankers and LNGCs, which carry thousands of tonnes of ballast water.
USCG regulations require all ships calling at US ports and planning to discharge ballast water to carry out ballast water exchange or treatment in addition to sediment management.
Ballast water exchange will only be an option for a limited period, following which ships discharging into US waters will be required to install a treatment system. The AMS avoids penalising ships that have already fitted a treatment system approved by another flag administration.
A ship with an AMS approved system installed can use it for a period of five years beyond the date when the ship would otherwise be required to comply with the USCG discharge standard.
Earlier this year Coldharbour secured UK MCA type approval under the eye of Lloyd’s Register, who independently audited the land and sea tests.
Andrew Marshal, Coldharbour Marine CEO, said, “The MCA is recognised in the US as a tough accrediting body so it took Coldharbour only four months since gaining initial accreditation to win AMS approval. We will now move to full USCG type approval and have signed up to that programme already. “