UV-based ballast water treatment specialist BIO-UV Group and its American engineering and servicing partner, The Columbia Group, have been selected to develop a ballast water treatment system for the United States Navy.
The contract follows an international call for tenders to develop a military version of a UV ballast water disinfection system to equip future US Navy ships.
Until now, military vessels have operated outside the scope of the USCG Standards for Living Organisms in Ship's Ballast Water Discharged in US Waters regulation. The ruling entered into forced in 2016 and governs the management of ballast water in American waters. However, future American military vessels will now need to be equipped with ballast water treatment systems.
Working with The Columbia Group, BIO-UV Group will design a robust ballast water treatment system for ballast pump capacities from 300m3/h up to 1,000m3/h.
Winning the tender, BIO-UV Group demonstrated its experience acquired with the French and other navies. The company recently secured contracts to supply the Belgian and Dutch navies with ballast water treatment solutions for installation to twelve mine-hunting vessels.
BIO-UV Group is part of a very small global group of companies that have developed a UV-based water disinfection system certified to both IMO(International Maritime Organization) and USCG(United States Coast Guard) type approval requirements.
This dual certification provides BIO-UV Group with a major advantage over its competitors by enabling it to guarantee shipowners that their vessels will be able to sail anywhere in the world and in particular in the United States coastal waters.
Benoit Gillmann, President and CEO of BIO-UV Group, said: "We are pleased to have been selected in association with The Columbia Group to design the ballast water treatment systems that will equip future U.S. Navy ships.
“Three years after obtaining USCG certification, this new step represents a recognition of our know-how and a new prestigious reference for BIO-UV Group.”