BWTS company comes into single ownership

Desmi says that the transaction gives it full ownership of the company, which has two successfully tested ballast water treatment systems in its portfolio, with the latest, RayClean, having secured several orders, with the first systems currently being installed.

Chairman of Desmi Ocean Guard’s board and head of Maersk Maritime Technology Bo Cerup-Simonsen said: “With the agreement we have secured firm commitment to the long term plans of Desmi Ocean Guard. Selling our share is a consequence of the Maersk Group strategy to focus on our core businesses. ”The aim of Desmi Ocean Guard was to create a solution to ballast water treatment which satisfies the needs of a high performance ship owner and operator like Maersk. Bringing with us the operational knowledge we have contributed to the creation of such a system while gaining valuable insights”.

Having observed the shipboard trials onboard Thurø Maersk Mr Cerup-Simonsen added: “We are very satisfied with having tested the equipment first hand. Especially we noted the system’s ability to operate in the various, often challenging water conditions. We were pleased with the system performance also in harbours with freshwater and water with low UV-transmittance and with the feedback from our crews during testing with regard to the ease of operation”.

Desmi Ocean Guard CEO Rasmus Folsø said; “Working with Maersk and UltraAqua on the development of our systems has been a great privilege. Too many vendors of BWTS are today marketing systems without clearly informing about their limitations. But, if you do not know the limits of the system you are buying, you do not know whether the system will be able to comply with the discharge standards. Being very aware of this issue both Maersk and UltraAqua have pushed our systems to be tested under extremely challenging water conditions with low UV-transmittance, and we have been able to demonstrate unrivalled performance. The fit with DESMI is excellent and the long term commitment we have now received will enable us to fully unlock the commercial potential of the systems”

Aalborg-based Desmi Ocean Guard was established by A.P. Moller – Maersk, Desmi and UltraAqua in 2009. It has developed the IMO type approved and US Coast Guard AMS accepted system, OxyClean, while type approval testing for its RayClean system is complete, with approval expected within the next few months.