Underwater Hull Cleaning Business Comes Of Age Due To The Long Recession

Teams that perform ship repair or ship husbandry services in ports around the world

find that the interest of shipowners and shipping managers for hull cleaning and ship repair services has increased in the past few months. The reason might be the extensive stay in ports, either due to the economic crisis in the Western world and the waning consumer interest in some markets, or due to overcapacity and the general spike in fuel costs caused by the price of oil. And many claim that we are only at the beginning of this phenomenon that is destined to last for many years and provide a small bonanza in ship repair and underwater services.

Underwater hull cleaning, a traditional specialist commercial diving business, removes marine growth and a minimal amount of antifouling paint so that vessels are able to significantly minimize their fuel costs. Divers who can be rapidly mobilized to any port use machines such as, among others, the Brush Power-Kart made by Piccard Divers (the "real thing" in hull cleaning, according to a few industry insiders) to achieve fast hull cleaning rates and provide efficient and competitively priced ship hull cleaning. Other underwater hull cleaning tools and machines range from efforts to build undersea robots (such as HullBug from the US office of Naval Research) to interesting experiments in subtracting deep sea fouling with plastic machines or plain metal brushes and various propeller polishing equipment.

But it all comes down to economics. Subcontracting with large shipping companies is a safe way for many divers to enter this lucrative market and gain the experience needed to provide hull cleaning to small and large commercial vessels. Most of the participants charge an amount per foot cleaned; the amount will depend on the locale, size and level of hull cleaning required.

Environmental considerations are also at play: most hull cleaning companies advise their clients to refrain from hull cleaning for a minimum of 60 days after hard antifouling paint has been applied, in order to remove as little as possible from the ship's hull. But since the benefits of underwater hull cleaning translate into millions in fuel cost savings, many companies that currently work in key ports in underwater hull cleaning find that due to the crisis, the business has double and tripled and often, they don't have time to undertake new jobs. And these days, a 60-day wait for safe and environmental hull cleaning is next to nothing for some port-stranded shipping companies...

by: Simon Mathias

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