A collaboration of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), BW Ventures and Singapore Maritime Institute (SMI) has performed a first environmental-friendly hull cleaning test trial at a Singapore port terminal last Friday.

Singapore-based CleanHull was employed to carry out the trial using remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs), testing and confirming on-site the feasibility of performing hull cleanings of containerships and other vessels during their loading and unloading activities.

“By using high-technology ROVs and advanced filtering systems, CleanHull is able to perform fast, efficient and cost effective hull cleanings to remove biofouling. This approach also reduces environmental and human risks that have limited hull cleaning activities at many ports,” said James Bassadone, ceo of CleanHull.

A clean hull reduces a vessel’s fuel consumption by improving its hydrodynamic performance, and contributes to significant emission reductions by the maritime industry.

The use of ROVs will increase the productivity of vessel’s support operations in Singapore by requiring smaller sized teams for hull cleanings and by reducing the turnaround time of vessels. Furthermore, as the ROV-based hull cleaning uses water-pressure technology and is non-abrasive to hull coatings, it adds benefits to the lifespan of the hull’s painting and coating.

Andrew Tan, chief executive of MPA, commented that the success of the trial “will not only benefit our future port operations, but help promote Singapore as an excellent location for the development and test-beddings of technological solutions for the global maritime industry.”