Hyde Marine Inc. has supplied the first ballast water treatment system on a dedicated Great
Lakes vessel. The Hyde Guardian
Model HG60 has been installed on the M/V Ranger III, a 128 passenger ferry providing
service to Isle Royale National Park in Michigan. Built in 1958, the
165-foot-long Ranger III is the largest piece of moving equipment the National
Park Service owns and operates.
The Park Service is currently exempt from having to install
a ballast treatment system on this vessel because it operates in one captain of
the port zone under U.S. Coast Guard rules and has the freshwater fleet
exemption from EPA (33 CFR 151.2015 (b) and EPA VGP 2.2.3.11). The Park
Service conducted a review of available type approved treatment systems and
voluntarily installed the Hyde Guardian to meet multiple objectives, including:
• Protection of park
waters from accidental aquatic invasive species transfers during Ranger III ballast
discharges;
• Prevention of zebra mussel introduction via the Ranger III
from park waters to the Houghton Shipping canal where none are currently
detected;
• Producing a report on IMO ballast technologies available
for small ships; and
• Support of research and testing to enhance the ability for
small ships to implement BWT and provide a test platform for compliance test
development.
According to Phyllis Green, superintendent, this milestone
in Great Lakes protection is a result of support from the Great Lakes
Restoration Initiative. “We are pleased that the Ranger III is the first
commercial freshwater vessel in the Great Lakes with a permanent BWT system
on-board,” says Green in a Hyde Marine press release. Ongoing support from the
Restoration Initiative is expected to help the Park Service and other agencies
continue to find treatment solutions for the larger ships of the Great Lakes
freshwater fleet.
Treatment system selection was based on IMO type approval,
ability to operate in Lake Superior’s fresh water and cold conditions, as well
as a number of technical and ship specific details. UV-based treatment was
found most suitable because the short route between the mainland and the park
would provide insufficient treatment holding time for many biocides. The Hyde Guardian
System was successfully installed with minimal disruption to the ship’s schedule
and without having to dry dock, the company says.
The chemical-free Hyde Guardian is comprised of automatic
backwashing depth filtration and powerful UV disinfection, says Hyde Marine, a
wholly owned subsidiary of Calgon Carbon Corp. The
filter and UV are used during ballasting, and the water receives a second dose
of UV prior to discharge. The system offers a compact, modular design, the
company says, with low power consumption, low-pressure drop, and simple, fully
automatic operation, making it a technically attractive solution for any type
and size of vessel.
Hyde Guardian received IMO Type Approval in April 2009 and
was the first BWT system accepted into the U.S. Coast Guard’s Shipboard
Technology Evaluation Program (STEP). Calgon Carbon’s UV Technology
Division and Hyde Marine received ISO 9001:2008 accreditation from the
registrar Det Norske Veritas and the ANAB National Accreditation Board in 2010.
Hyde Marine joined the Isle Royale National Park and the
Great Lakes shipping community in a ceremony on June 28 at the Isle Royale
National Park Headquarters in Houghton, Mich., to dedicate the installation of
the Hyde Guardian unit.