HÄFEN | PORTS In-water HÄFEN | PORTS In-water cleaning standard progresses The in-water cleaning standard developed by Bimco and a working group of shipowners, paint manufacturers and cleaning companies, is now in the early stages of testing. Two of the participants share some insights Olga Vedernikova, Fleet Efficiency Coordinator at Shell Trading & Shipping and Hare Ram Sah, Fleet Director at Wah Kwong share their views on how it could benefit shipowners, cleaning firms and the environment, and the challenges that may lie ahead. Wah Kwong Maritime Transport Holdings is a family-owned shipping company based in Hong Kong with an extensive network of partnerships in mainland China, Asia, Europe and the US. It owns 20 vessels and manages a fleet of 59 bulk carriers, oil and gas tankers of various sizes. It participates in the in-water cleaning standard project, because it believes better hull cleaning is a way to protect the environment – saving fuel through better vessel performance, and thereby reducing emissions. »Our focus is to get the job done using idle time, to prevent any potential off-hire time. That is our target: to have this plan implemented without any significant loss of revenue to our owners,« says Hare Ram Sah. »To that end, it will be very helpful with an industry standard,« he says. The company’s aim is to have quality in-water cleaning in a few major port regions, where its ships – which trade globally – normally have idle time. »First of all, working following certain standards that are given power, are very well defined and under certain regulatory control, and where cleaning companies are audited for their systems and management, is an advantage,« he says, because it will be a driving force, and an inspiration to other cleaning companies to adopt the same course. Furthermore, he adds, fears could be allayed of some owners that in-water cleaning does as much harm to a vessel’s anti-fouling coating as it helps by removing fouling. »We could attract more regular cleaning, because you’re are doing it under a certain set of standards. The confidence should increase that the »Our focus is to get the job done using idle time, to prevent any potential off-hire time. That is our target: to have this plan implemented without any significant loss of revenue to our owner« Hare Ram Sah Fleet Director Wah Kwong hull cleaning is good and the anti-fouling paint isn’t damaged, and it isn’t going to add extra resistance, because the cleaners are well regulated.« He thinks, the fear will be reduced, and this will result in more periodical cleaning. However, future cleaning is not without its obstacles. Sah lists three primary challenges: collection of residues, cleaning of curvatures and cleaning of propeller. According to the standard, the cleaners must collect at least 95 % of the residues. »So how are they [the cleaners] going to overcome this,« says Sah. He believes the ultimate aim should be to ensure that 99.5 % of residues are captured and collected in the cleaning tank. Currently, the ability to do this differs from cleaning company to cleaning company, depending on their respective infrastructure and methods. Second, the curvature © Wah Kwong areas of the vessel – the stern frame, bulbous bow, bilge keel – may remain uncleaned. How will they tackle this challenge? How can they develop a small cleaning tool to make sure that these areas are also well cleaned? »And third, there is a high demand among owners to have clean propellers to lower fuel consumption, but how are they going to do that? This is another challenge,« says Sah. Another partner of the project is Shell Trading & Shipping. Shell commercially operates a diverse fleet including crude, product and LNG carriers. The company has worked diligently for years to monitor fuel performance and gather and analyse data. Olga Vedernikova, Fleet Efficiency Coordinator says: »By using internal metrics that go beyond an assessment of speed loss, it is possible to quantify the impact of a clean hull on the vessel performance and the extra fuel [and emissions]. We have an established system that allows us to monitor hull condition and we are starting to share it with our counterparties, working towards more proactive solutions to reduce fuel consumption.« 66 HANSA – International Maritime Journal 08 | 2021
HÄFEN | PORTS Shell has been using high-performance hull coatings on some of its managed and chartered vessels. It is important to be able to maintain and clean these coatings, without excessive mechanical damage and minimising environmental impacts. Another important aspect involves having suitable cleaning companies that are positioned around the globe to meet the global trading patterns Shell follows. Lowering fuel consumption – and thereby emissions – by optimising the operations of a ship will become even more critical when the new operational carbon intensity reduction requirement is introduced by the International Maritime Organization. That is where the Bimco standard will assist. »A defined standard for in-water hull cleaning with capture would help ensure the quality and safety of such operations, making it easier for companies like Shell to assess and accept new cleaning participants as they would adhere to a set standard,« says Vedernikova. A global standard that requires more than 95 % of fouling and microplastics to be captured would make it more likely that certain countries and port authorities would allow cleaning companies to operate in their territorial waters. Ultimately, the standard aims to encourage many more cleaning companies to share knowledge and support a strong quality assurance for the entire cleaning industry. »We keep close collaboration with our suppliers as we work towards our decarbonisation ambitions and support each other by adopting new ways of working, and standardising best practices. Working closely with both paint suppliers and cleaning companies is important. All of us have to be on the same page in driving efforts for the delivery of safe, efficient and lower-carbon shipping.« This article was first published by Rasmus Nord Jørgensen in the »Bimco Bulletin« of the renowned international shipping organization Bimcobased in Copenhagen © Shell »Working closely with both paint suppliers and cleaning companies is important« Olga Vedernikova Fleet Efficiency Coordinator Shell Trading & Shipping HANSA closely follows the development of the planned new standard for in-water cleaning for some time. At the beginning of the year, Aron Frank Sørensen gave our readers an interesting insight into the plans and processes HANSA – International Maritime Journal 08 | 2021 67
