Delay in final approval

The reason for the delayed approval process is the fact that the IMO Expert Group, GESAMP, did not succeed to finalize the evaluation of the application in due time for MEPC63 meeting. The delay is not in any way caused by problems or questions related to the DESMI Ocean Guard A/S application, but is purely due to lack of time of the GESAMP Group.

In the report from the 20th GESAMP meeting the following was noted:

“Although every effort was made to evaluate DESMI Ocean Guard A/S Ballast Water Management System (DOG BWMS) and KTM-Ballast Water Management System at this meeting, the Group was only able to complete the evaluation of the first three proposals because of lack of time.”

DESMI Ocean Guard now looks forward to the report from the next GESAMP meeting which is scheduled to take place on 16-20 April 2012. We anticipate that this report will recommend Final Approval be granted to DESMI Ocean Guard and that this will formally take place at the MEPC64 meeting in October 2012.

The recommendation from the GESAMP Group should hopefully be available already in May 2012.

In the meantime DESMI Ocean Guard A/S continues the shipbased tests. In enclosure the results from the first two out of three mandatory tests are shown, and it can be seen that the DESMI Ocean Guard A/S system by far exceeds the IMO discharge requirements.

Accelerated corrosion tests at Danish Technological Institute have been finalized recently, and the conclusion is that the DESMI Ocean Guard system does not introduce any risk of increased corrosion or breakdown of ballast tank coatings. Please see enclosed summary from Danish Technological Institute.

We remain at your disposal in case you need further clarification, and we will keep you informed of any new developments.