Page 54: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (May 2023)

TECH FEATURE ARMACH ROBOTIC HULL CLEANING

Armach’s Robot

Hull Cleaning

All images courtesy Armach Robotics

Service Takes

Next Steps Toward

Commercialization

Maritime Reporter recently caught up with Karl Lander, Director of

Regulatory Compliance and

Outreach at maritime tech startup

Armach Robotics, to hear the latest progress on its unique, small platform, intelligence-driven hull cleaning solution.

By Jake Frith ompanies like Plymouth, MA, headquartered Ar- we will be able to augment these coatings with hull clean- mach Robotics (Armach) are justi? ably convinced ing processes, so we can use harder, longer-lasting coatings that cleaning hulls is set for wider adoption in the which leach fewer toxins, are kinder on the environment,

Ccoming years, as the principle of coating hulls while offering the additional cost bene? t of fewer ship lay- with substances designed to be noxious to marine life be- ups for recoating.” comes increasingly problematic. Not only is there the concern There is a critical aspect to when, in the fouling cycle, ves- that these noxious substances are indiscriminate in the spe- sel operators choose to conduct mechanical hull cleanings. cies they can harm, and so are not only poisonous to the crit- Broadly speaking, until now there were two ways of looking ters that choose to adhere to ships’ hulls, but there is also the at it; proactive or reactive. Armach however offers an always concern, which has grown alongside better ship performance clean approach through their new EverClean program which monitoring, that ? eets are plying their trade with dirtier hulls only tackles slime, the ? rst step in the fouling chain, address- more of the time than previously thought. This operation of ing only slime early and often with gentle soft brushes opti- vessels with partially fouled hulls, presents the dual environ- mised for that task, and hence kinder on hull coatings than al- mental and operator cost risks of increased fuel burn, and the ternatives. This principle informs a big part of the EverClean greater likelihood of invasive species transfer. always clean philosophy.

Karl Lander explains: “Hull cleaning systems are not go- The weeds, and later even more problematic fouling spe- ing to replace biocidal hull coatings overnight. There will cies such as molluscs, simply cannot attach, unless slime is still be a need to paint hulls under the waterline in something already present. Yet, as any small boat owner who owns a that is unappealing to marine life. The difference is that now mask, ? ippers, and a scrubbing brush will tell you, slime can 54 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • May 2023

MR #5 (50-60).indd 54 5/4/2023 8:56:02 AM