Members of the Canadian Shipowners Association (CSA) have partnered with Great Ships Initiative (GSI), a project of the Northeast-Midwest Institute, a regional non-profit research centre headquartered in Washington, D.C., to conduct efficacy tests of ballast water filtration systems in the cold, fresh waters of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Waterway (GLSLW). Tests will take place this summer at the GSI ballast treatment testing facility in Superior, Wisconsin. To date, no technology has been type-approved for operation in the GLSLW waters where Canadian vessels operate.
Canadian ship owners are looking proactively to find practical solutions to ballast water management. The membership chose to partner with the government-funded GSI testing facility to build objective knowledge of technological solutions. Results from the trials are expected by the end of August 2013.