Page 49: of Marine Technology Magazine (November 2019)

Robotic Hull Cleaning

The robotic hull cleaning system re- factor for ports that are increasingly ily concerning air quality, noise and the cently received a big boost to its busi- concerned that heavy metals and micro- natural environment and biodiversity ness when the Dutch national regulatory plastics, which are often found in hull and water quality.

body Rijkswaterstaat gave the Norwe- coatings, may contaminate their waters “We recognize that ef? cient cleaning gian company the green light to start of- when hulls are cleaned. of ship hulls is better for the water qual- fering hull cleaning services to vessels The cleaning and suction system then ity in the port and reduces CO2 emis- at all Dutch Ports including Europe’s draws the fouling detritus ashore or sions and fuel costs,” she ado. “The ad- biggest port, the Port of Rotterdam. The onto a barge, where it is ? ltered out of vantages of initiatives like ECOsubsea move is helping the ? rm solidify its po- the water and sent ashore for process- will enhance the sustainability of the sition in Europe following similar per- ing. Tests by ECOsubsea and seen by entire transport chain. The Port of Rot- missions in Antwerp, Zeebrugge, Ghent the ports that are keen to see the system terdam is therefore happy to promote and Southampton. used, show that virtually all of the detri- initiatives that ? t in well with our corpo- “Ports want evidence that our sys- tus taken off the hull will be sent ashore. rate social responsibility goals.” tem works,” said ECOsubsea CEO Tor “At the end of last year we were only To help owners and operators ECO-

Østervold. “We can now give it to them. in Southampton,” adds Østervold. “Now subsea urges owners to be proactive and

They also want evidence that vessels we are in a growing number of ports in- have a system in place to help operators have active hull biofouling plans, and cluding Amsterdam and Rotterdam.” determine the best time to undergo a we are helping operators and ports with For Østervold, a giant port such as cleaning. “While onboard performance the digital implementation of that too,” Rotterdam, with a strong environmental systems can detect drops in performance he added. benchmark, is an important step in the due to hull and propeller fouling, it is

ECOsubsea’s system works by having evolution of the company. often at a point when there is already a a robotic cleaning system, move over a The port of Rotterdam’s Breakbulk visible build up of biofouling on parts ship’s hull, gently removing the fouling Business Manager Irene Bennett points of the hull,” says Østervold. ”Visual in- off the hull without damaging the ves- to the role the Authority plays in gen- spections of a hull are still an important sel’s hull coating. This is an important erating a healthier environment, primar- part of hull husbandry.”

Photo: EcoSubsea www.marinetechnologynews.com

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