Recently the hull of the vessel ‘VLIEBORG’ from Wagenborg has been cleaned in the Port of Rotterdam by Fleet Cleaner and OH Ship Cleaning. The vessel was heavily fouled with slime and algae, which were all removed from the hull and captured by the installation. The collected wastewater was carefully filtered in order to comply with environmental regulations.

Since the Vlieborg was not loaded during the cleaning, a large portion of the fouled hull had to be cleaned above water. Onno Steenweg, superintendent at Wagenborg, emphasizes the importance of above water cleaning: “Because most of the fouling on the vessels accumulates around the waterline region, the operation of Fleet Cleaner is unique since it both offers a solution for under water cleaning as well as above water cleaning. This highly increases operational flexibility for the shipping company.”

The underwater visibility was extremely poor during the operation. However, due to the unique positioning system and imaging systems, it was still possible to perform an accurate cleaning of the hull. Fleet Cleaner uses innovative navigation systems in order to ensure a high quality hull cleaning, even in such conditions.

With the cleaning of the Vlieborg, and recently also the hull cleaning of the Marcor bulk vessel in Rotterdam, Fleet Cleaner has introduced itself in Dutch ports as the new standard for in water cleaning.

(Pictures by René Klootsema)