Hull Cleaning Technology News

Commercial diving company Subsea Global Solutions (SGS) announced it has acquired SRN Group Diving & ROV Underwater Services (Belgium), an underwater services and remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) hull cleaning firm based in Belgium.With this acquisition, SGS expands its global footprint to Europe, acquires industry leading ROV hull cleaning technology and increases the number of its home ports worldwide to 14.Paul Peters, CEO of SGS, said, “This is a much awaited, critical milestone for SGS.

Mauritius is one of 12 countries spearheading the International Marine Organisation (IMO) GloFouling Project, a collaboration with the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and IMO, created to implement guidelines for the control and management of the transfer of invasive marine species on vessel hulls.The underwater hull cleaning technology provider HullWiper said that it would support efforts to combat marine biofouling in Mauritian waters and introduce underwater hull cleaning solution to the Mauritian maritime community.Change is the simple answer to the “environmental emergency” presented by marine biofouling and the transfer of invasive species.

HullWiper Ltd’s eco-friendly hull cleaning technology is now available as a flexible onboard solution that allows all types of vessels to clean hull fouling on demand.The onboard version of the diver- and brush-free remotely operated vehicle (ROV) gives vessels on a tight schedule the means to perform a partial or full hull clean on a planned rotation, as and when needed. Cruise ships and super yachts can clean at every stop without interruption to their timetables or inconvenience to passengers.The onboard solution…

Trials are underway at Southampton as part of a pilot scheme to launch the eco-friendly HullWiper hull cleaning technology at the port. HullWiper is working to test the system on a range of vessels including cruise liners, Ro-Ro ships, container ships and general cargo carriers at the south coast port. Managing Director Simon Doran explains that the trials are to demonstrate the efficiency of the diver-and brush-free ROV to the harbour authority, Associated British Ports (ABP) in Southampton: “HullWiper provides an affordable, safe and eco-friendly alternative to traditional hull cleaning methods. HullWiper uses adjustable seawater jets under variable pressure as the cleaning medium, instead of brushes or abrasives, to minimise the risk of damage to expensive anti-fouling coatings.

HullWiper, GAC EnvironHull’s diver-free hull cleaning technology, has completed its 100th clean for Maersk Line. The clean was conducted on the Maersk Ganges in the Jebel Ali Container Terminal, Dubai. The HullWiper Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) is an environmentally friendly and cost-effective hull cleaning solution that employs unique brushless cleaning technology. It uses high-pressure seawater to avoid damage to the antifouling surface on the hull. Debris is collected in a special waste filter unit and disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner. It also removes the need to employ divers, reducing operational costs and the risk to human life.

GAC EnvironHull has signed a contract with the international energy company Statoil to provide underwater hull cleaning services for its vessels operating in Scandinavia, the Middle East and the Far East. From the second quarter of 2015, GAC EnvironHull, part of global shipping, logistics and marine services provider GAC Group, is using its HullWiper technology to remove fouling from the Statoil fleet of long term chartered vessels to enhance efficiency and reduce fuel consumption, while also preserving and protecting the maritime environment.

GAC EnvironHull’s eco-friendly, diver-free hull cleaning technology makes its Asian debut at this year’s Sea Asia exhibition, marking its introduction at one of the world’s busiest ports, Singapore. The HullWiper Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) system was launched in late 2013 in the United Arab Emirates and has since been rolled out to other countries in the Middle East and in Sweden. It is now being offered to vessels in Singapore, through GAC EnvironHull’s local partner, T&T Salvage Asia Pte Ltd (T&T).

Gothenburg is the latest port to be added to the growing GAC EnvironHull network of bases offering HullWiper, its eco-friendly, brush-and-diver-free hull cleaning service. The port on Sweden's west coast is the first in Europe to host the Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV). This comes after GAC EnvironHull Ltd. launched HullWiper in Dubai in November 2013. It started offering the service at Fujairah, UAE, last month. Now, another HullWiper unit is available at Gothenburg, operated through Frog Marine Services AB, a local underwater services provider in partnership with GAC EnvironHull. Managing Director Simon Doran said, "We have maintained a steady competitive position in the Middle East since last year's launch of our hull cleaning technology.

Ship service provider GAC inform that Gothenburg is the latest port to be added to the growing GAC EnvironHull network of bases offering HullWiper, its eco-friendly, brush-and-diver-free hull cleaning service. GAC add that the port on Sweden's west coast is the first in Europe to host the Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV). The HullWiper ROV is an unmanned hull cleaning unit which uses adjustable pressure sea water jets as the cleaning medium rather than brushes or abrasives, resulting in minimal damage to the antifouling surface. Residues and harmful marine growths captured during cleaning are disposed of in an environmentally-friendly manner instead of being discharged into the sea as done using traditional methods.