Marine Fire Protection Training & Experts Panel:

The Fireaway Marine Fire Protection event drew distributors, installers, and marine industry professionals from multiple countries, providing a clear picture of where the market stands on condensed aerosol fire suppression. The audience’s questions centered around three consistent topics:

These are the right questions, and the answers are worth explaining clearly. Stat-X has now earned the broadest marine approvals in its history, and the engineering case for condensed aerosol suppression in machinery spaces is stronger than ever.

Stat-X is one of the lowest approved design densities among aerosol manufacturers currently serving the marine market. A lower design density means fewer generators per protected space, reduced installed weight, and simpler system layouts. That is the starting point for every discussion about where condensed aerosol technology fits within modern marine fire protection.

The following questions and answers draw on insights shared by our panel of experts, who bring decades of experience in marine product development, regulatory approvals, and fire suppression technologies—including CO₂, clean agents, water mist, and condensed aerosol systems—across applications ranging from small craft to ocean-going vessels.

Fireaway Achieves Type Approval and EU/UK Marine Equipment Certification for Stat-X® Condensed Aerosol Fire-Extinguishing Systems Following MSC.1/
Circ.1270 Evaluation.

Five certificates issued by Bureau Veritas support application in SOLAS-regulated marine environments across global, EU-flagged, and UK-flagged vessels.

What testing was required to earn IMO-aligned type approval for Stat-X, and which organization conducted the evaluation?

The evaluation was conducted under IMO MSC.1/Circ.1270, the specific approval and testing guideline for fixed aerosol fire-extinguishing systems in marine machinery spaces. Testing took place in a 500-cubic-meter enclosure— one of the largest test spaces required under any current aerosol standard, and a size selected by the IMO Marine Safety Committee as representative of a full-scale engine room.

The fire test program covered multiple scenarios: spray fires, pool fires, Class A combustibles, three categories of plastic materials, and wood crib arrays that had been burning for two, four, and six minutes prior to system activation. The system was required to achieve extinguishment within defined time limits across all scenarios.

Bureau Veritas (BV) served as the approval body, reviewing the test evidence and issuing the Type Approval Certificate. The resulting certification—together with a separate Module D manufacturing quality certificate—forms the basis for the MED wheelmark authorization for EU- flagged vessles. Fireaway also holds UK Marine Equipment Regulations (MER) approval for UK-flagged vessels. Full certification details are available on the marine industry page.

Water mist is widely specified for engine room protection on commercial vessels. What is the engineering case for specifying condensed aerosol instead?

Water mist is an effective technology and well established in the market. The engineering trade-off comes down to what the system requires the vessel to carry, power, and maintain over its service life.

A high-pressure water mist system for a large machinery space requires a pump set, a dedicated water supply, a network of stainless-steel distribution piping, sprinkler heads, and associated structural supports, valves, and electrical infrastructure. The pump unit alone draws significant electrical power — a HI-FOG system configured for a ~560 m³ engine room runs four 27 kW motors (108 kW total). The system requires a central installation point and is sized for the largest space it serves.

Aerosol generators are self-contained and require no piping network, pump set, water supply, or high-power electrical draw. An independent study commissioned by the UK Ministry of Defence compared a HI-FOG water mist system against a condensed aerosol system on a 70-metre offshore patrol vessel concept, across two engine rooms totaling approximately 1,086 m³. The water mist system weighed 7,500 kg (dry). The aerosol system weighed 480 kg—a reduction of over 93%.

On a 4,000-MT displacement vessel, that weight differential translates to measurable reductions in fuel consumption over the hull’s operating life and an improved CII trajectory under IMO’s carbon intensity framework. Recovered volume from eliminated infrastructure can be reallocated to payload or additional equipment.

The MoD study, presented at the 14th International Naval Engineering Conference (INEC 2018) by T. Goode of Babcock Energy & Marine, evaluated water mist, Inergen, and condensed aerosol for naval machinery space applications and identified aerosol as the preferred option on weight, space, power draw, maintenance profile, and the absence of oxygen-depletion hazard. The full paper is available through the IMarEST library.

The MED approval shows a single design density rather than separate Class A and Class B ratings. Why is the standard structured that way?

It is a question that comes up regularly, because most installers are familiar with standards such as NFPA 2010, UL 2775, EN 15276-1, and ISO 15779, which specify separate densities by fire classification. MSC.1/Circ.1270 is structured differently.

The testing under MSC.1/Circ.1270 does include both Class A and Class B fire scenarios—that work was completed as part of the approval process. However, the standard issues one uniform design density that encompasses both classes rather than separating them.

In practice, the approved density reflects the more demanding of the two fire classes tested. The standard does not permit a lower-Class B-only density to be applied in the field. The single-density approach simplifies design compliance: one calculation, one approved parameter, applicable across the range of fire scenarios the machinery space is likely to present.

Stat-X now holds USCG, MCA, and MED certifications. How do these differ, and which vessels do each cover?

The three approval regimes reflect three different regulatory jurisdictions, and understanding the scope of each is important when specifying a system for a particular vessel.

The USCG Certificate of Approval covers US-flagged vessels operating under US Coast Guard jurisdiction—workboats, offshore service vessels, barges, ferries, tugboats, and similar crafts. Stat-X was the first condensed aerosol product to receive this designation. One current limitation: current USCG approvals for electrically actuated condensed aerosol systems remain limited in scope for marine applications.

The MCA UK Type-Examination Certificate covers UK-flagged vessels operating under the Merchant Shipping (Marine Equipment) Regulations. Equipment bearing the UK Red Ensign Mark is accepted for installation on vessels flying the UK flag.

The MED certification—the most recent and broadest in scope—covers vessels subject to the EU Marine Equipment Directive and SOLAS. MED-certified equipment is accepted by the major ship classification societies, including DNV, RINA, and Lloyd’s Register, in lieu of separate class approvals. That means Stat-X is now specifiable on commercial vessels operating on international voyages — cargo ships, fishing vessels, and other internationally regulated tonnage where IMO and SOLAS requirements apply.

Full certification details and applicable certificate numbers are available on the marine industry page and the approvals and listings page. The regulatory framework is also covered in the Fireaway certification article series at statx.com/fire-education.

Is Stat-X a practical option for retrofitting existing vessels, or is it primarily suited to new construction?

Both are viable applications, and in some respects retrofit is where the case for aerosol is most immediately compelling.

On a new build, the benefit is captured at the design stage: the weight and space that would otherwise be allocated to a CO₂ system—cylinders, piping, manifolds, and a dedicated storage room—is available from the outset for payload, equipment, or other operational use. Naval architects specifying aerosol early in the design cycle can optimize those allocations across the entire vessel.

On a retrofit, the calculus depends on what is being replaced. A CO₂ conversion is the most straightforward: the existing installation is removed, and aerosol generators are mounted directly within the protected space. The former CO₂ storage room—a dedicated, ventilated space that served no other function—becomes available to the vessel owner, translating to additional stowage, equipment capacity, or improved crew habitability on the day the work is completed. For vessels already running a water mist system, the case is different but equally compelling: removing a pump set, piping network, and water supply and replacing them with self-contained generators recovers both weight and space that was never available in the original design.

Application details for specific vessel types and protected space volumes.

What does the maintenance profile look like for a Stat-X installation over the vessel’s service life?

CO₂ systems carry a maintenance cycle tied to the pressurized cylinder infrastructure: periodic inspection, hydrostatic testing, agent weighing, and refilling—all performed by certified personnel, sometimes requiring the vessel to be taken out of service. Over a 25-year hull life, that cycle represents a recurring cost and a recurring operational interruption.

Stat-X generators are self-contained. There are no pressurized components, no cylinders to weigh or inspect for leakage, and no agent supply chain to maintain. The generators carry a rated service life of 15 years with minimal scheduled maintenance. There is no inspection obligations tied to pressure vessel regulations. The system that is installed at commissioning is, operationally, the system that is in service a decade later—without the maintenance overhead that a CO₂ installation requires.

For vessel operators managing maintenance schedules across a fleet, that difference has practical value beyond the headline cost comparison.

Which spaces on a vessel can Stat-X protect under the current marine certification, and are there spaces where it is not applicable?

The MED certification covers machinery spaces and enclosed technical compartments—engine rooms, auxiliary machinery spaces, and similar areas. These are spaces that are unoccupied during system activation and where enclosed geometry supports effective aerosol concentration.

Accommodation spaces—crew quarters, mess areas, and other normally occupied areas—are outside the scope of the current marine certification. The system is designed and approved for the machinery space environment.

Within those parameters, the range of applicable vessel types is broad: workboats, offshore supply vessels, ferries, fishing vessels, cargo vessels, patrol craft, and research vessels. Protected space size should be evaluated in accordance with the Marine DIOM and applicable class or flag-state requirements.

For application-specific guidance, the machinery spaces application page and the marine industry page at statx.com provide additional detail. Technical questions on specific installations can be directed to technical@statx.com.

Conclusion

The questions covered here reflect where the market is with condensed aerosol suppression in marine applications: genuinely interested, but working through the certification landscape, the installation requirements, and the comparison with established alternatives. The answers are not complicated. The approval is real; the scope is broad, and the engineering case—on weight, space, maintenance, and crew safety—is grounded in documented performance data and independent third-party evaluation.

For distributors and specifiers evaluating Stat-X for a marine project, the starting point is the vessel flag, the protected space volume, and the applicable class or flag-state requirements. From there, the certification scope, the calculation tool, and the technical support team at Fireaway can take the project forward. The marine market is large, and the retrofit opportunity alone is significant. The approval infrastructure is now in place to address it.

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