DHI Ballast Water Centre in Singapore receives U.S. Coast Guard recognition

With the recognition, we can now independently evaluate the performance of ballast water management systems (BWMS) for type approval, in compliance with International Maritime Organization (IMO) and USCG standards.

Ballast water – while indispensable to safe and efficient shipping operations – may pose significant economic, ecological and public health risks when it introduces non-native marine species to different sea regions around the world. In the future, all ships will be required to install BWMS to treat the ballast water before it is released into the environment. Land-based testing at DHI’s facility will determine if the ship’s BWMS is able to treat ballast water effectively.

The DHI Ballast Water Centre is built on three pillars: client focus, flexible solutions and quality management. Our team is the largest in the world, operating in land-based test facilities in Denmark and Singapore which provide tests for verification of biological performance in fresh, brackish and high saline waters. The USCG recognition marks another milestone for DHI in our journey to consistently offer best practices to our clients and we are dedicated to providing quality solutions backed by a robust and dependable system. With the Letter of Acceptance from the USCG on 28 February 2015 for Singapore’s land-based facility, both the Danish and Singapore facility are now capable of operating under the Independent Laboratory status.

More about our test facility in Singapore

Our test facility in Singapore mimics real ballast tanks found on ships in order to minimise the potential gap between land-based and shipboard testing. It is the first of its kind in a tropical climate, with the capacity to conduct tests throughout the year under highly challenging conditions. Our facility consists of a 550 m3 source tank and two retention tanks, each with a volume of 250 m3.  We can provide flow rates from 200 – 500 m3/h. The environmental laboratory is accredited per ISO 17025 standards.

DHI Ballast Water Centre in Singapore. © DHI