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 On June 14, 2019, USCG Type Approval items of ECS, developed by Techcross, were partially revised. Techcross, which obtained the USCG Type Approval in June 2018 as the first company in Korea and the seventh in the world, conducted a retest under stricter conditions to satisfy the customers’ requests and received the certificate renewal after reviewed by an Independent Laboratory and USCG.

 The main item revised is holding time. The holding time refers to the period of time that a ship must maintain ballast water for after ballasting. If the ship’s operation schedule is tight, the holding time can be a weakness. ESC initially required 120 hours of holding time, but this revision eliminates the need for holding time in sea water and brackish water. 48 hours of holding time is required only for fresh water below 1 PSU.

 Especially, it is significant that ECS reduced its holding time without filters unlike other 17 systems using filters that have received USCG Type Approval as of June 2019. Most microorganisms of 50μm or more, which are generally difficult to disinfect, are first filtered, and only small microorganisms are treated with electrolysis. However, the electrode developed by Techcross increased the efficiency of electrolysis, showing almost the same performance in disinfection of microorganisms over 50μm without filters. For vessels with limited space, additional equipment means higher cost. ECS with the revised USCG Type Approval is expected to appeal to many existing ship owners in that respect.