LR has Independent Laboratory Approval from the USCG and will work closely in the type approval tests with Marine Eco Analytics (MEA), a test laboratory in the Netherlands. Revised and more comprehensive G8 tests agreed by the IMO's MEPC 70 meeting in November, 2016, will be undertaken simultaneously.
"We were extremely impressed with the type approval process conducted jointly with Lloyd's Register and the UK's Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) when we undertook the original tests required for IMO approval," Coldharbour CEO Andrew Marshall was quoted as saying in a report by London's Tanker Operator.
"These were carried out with the utmost diligence at MEA in the Netherlands for which we have the highest regard. MEA now has suitable accreditation from the USCG so we can proceed with the USCG testing protocols."
Mr Marshall said that MEA had originally been identified as a facility of choice because its location provides a ready supply of sea water from the North Sea and brackish water from the Wadden Sea. This, he said, guaranteed that tests would cover all types of water, which ships could encounter.
A second key reason for choosing MEA was that the facility carries out its tests using natural water collected by barges, meaning that samples contain natural fauna and flora rather than seeded or farmed organisms, which often have different survivability characteristics.
Coldharbour's determination to ensure a fault-free testing system is demonstrated by the fact that the process will not begin until around next April when the correct number of naturally occurring marine organisms - 100,000 per tonne of water - are found in the waters of the Wadden Sea and North Sea.
The season during which organism blooms contain sufficient zooplankton and phytoplankton extends from April to September each year. Mr Marshall believed that the full range of land tests required in the USCG type approval process is likely to take around five months.
"We were extremely impressed with the type approval process conducted jointly with Lloyd's Register and the UK's Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) when we undertook the original tests required for IMO approval," Coldharbour CEO Andrew Marshall was quoted as saying in a report by London's Tanker Operator.
"These were carried out with the utmost diligence at MEA in the Netherlands for which we have the highest regard. MEA now has suitable accreditation from the USCG so we can proceed with the USCG testing protocols."
Mr Marshall said that MEA had originally been identified as a facility of choice because its location provides a ready supply of sea water from the North Sea and brackish water from the Wadden Sea. This, he said, guaranteed that tests would cover all types of water, which ships could encounter.
A second key reason for choosing MEA was that the facility carries out its tests using natural water collected by barges, meaning that samples contain natural fauna and flora rather than seeded or farmed organisms, which often have different survivability characteristics.
Coldharbour's determination to ensure a fault-free testing system is demonstrated by the fact that the process will not begin until around next April when the correct number of naturally occurring marine organisms - 100,000 per tonne of water - are found in the waters of the Wadden Sea and North Sea.
The season during which organism blooms contain sufficient zooplankton and phytoplankton extends from April to September each year. Mr Marshall believed that the full range of land tests required in the USCG type approval process is likely to take around five months.