NIVA approved by US Coast Guard as subcontracted test facility for Lloyd’s Register
Lloyd’s Register (LR) is a global engineering, technical and business services organization wholly owned by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation. In November 2016, Lloyd’s Register filed an application package requesting that the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA) could conduct tests on their behalf. January 26th, US Coast Guard confirmed that this request had been accepted.
The Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), located in Norway, is now included as a subcontracted facility to conduct tests on Lloyd’s Register’s behalf in accordance with 46 CFR 162.060-26 (Land based testing) and 46 CFR 162.060-28 (Shipboard testing).
This adds to the great progress NIVA’s ballast water team has experienced since NIVA’s Marine Research Station at Solbergstrand became the first internationally authorized full scale testing facility for both marine water and brackish water back in 2005. In march 2015, NIVA’s ballast water test facility was the second one in Europe to be approved by the United States Coast Guard (USCG) to run USCG testing on behalf of USCG in cooperation with DNV-GL. On December 2nd 2016, the Coast Guard Marine Safety Center issued the very first U.S. Coast Guard Ballast Water Management System (BWMS) Type Approval Certificate to the Norwegian manufacturer Optimarin AS after both land-based and shipboard testing carried out by NIVA.
- This adds to the formidable testing experiences gained since the start in 2005, and the great R&D effort of NIVA’s Test Facility for sampling, analysis methods and other required testing procedures, says August Tobiesen, research scientist at NIVA.
-This will increase significantly the number of ballast project at Solbergstrand and will require stronger ballast team to cope with this and the new IMO challenging regulation requirements as well, says Stephanie Delacroix, project manager and research scientist at NIVA.
Even more challenging test requirements from the USA are expected soon, and NIVA is preparing for a larger portfolio.
- To cope with the coming increase in projects, we are building up the feed water storage tank from 500 to 800m3, says Oddbjørn Pettersen, test site manager at NIVA.
- The new test facility should be ready for the new testing season start in April 2017 and the whole Solbergstrand team is working very hard on it right now.
>> Read more: NIVA meets American requirements for ballast water management methods