The American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) has joined with NEMWI's Great Ships Initiative and other partners to screen ballast water management systems (BWMS) for US certification decisions.  NEMWI's Great Ships Initiative, a global leader in freshwater ballast water treatment testing, is part of a National Sanitation Foundation, International (NSF)-led consortium (termed an Independent Laboratory, or IL) that conducts verification tests for U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) certifications of BWMS. In addition to GSI, the NSF IL-the first IL to gain official USCG recognition-also includes the Maritime Environmental Resource Center (MERC) for brackish and salt water BWMS testing, and Retlif Testing Laboratories, of Long Island, NY for "shake, rattle, and roll" testing of physical and mechanical ship-worthiness. The NSF IL now will also include the ABS, a major ship classification society, to determine appropriateness of BWMS for installation and operation onboard commercial vessels, and to conduct design/construction and documentation reviews. The inclusion of ABS to the partnership brings even more credibility and experience to the non-profit NSF IL program.

Ballast water is taken aboard and discharged from commercial vessels during cargo operations to assure adequate vessel stability. However, untreated ballast water carried by ships from one ecosystem to another has been a leading vector of aquatic invasive species introductions that plague the NEMW region's Great Waters, along with navigable waters globally. The USCG and the Environmental Protection Agency both now require that ships treat their ballast water if they are discharging in U.S. waters.

For more information, contact Allegra Cangelosi, President
at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.