Norwegian companies developing new technology to fight biofouling on ship hulls

Hull cleaning and fouling prevention without dry-docking

Today, there is no one-solution-fits-all preventing biofouling, but several companies are developing new technology to help prevent fouling on marine vessels. Let's briefly touch on a couple of them.

Klaveness Combination Carriers (KCC) has set several projects in motion to reach their target of reducing CO2 emissions by 15% per vessel by 2022. In order to improve their energy efficiency, an important part to reach their goal is by focusing on minimizing marine growth on the underwater hull. One innovation they are testing together with underwater drones from Blueye Robotics, is the semi-autonomous hull cleaning solution (ITCH) developed by the Norwegian start-up Shipshave. Their newly launched semi-autonomous hull cleaning solution enables in-transit cleaning of hulls (ITCH). The solution is especially beneficial to reduce the amount of transferred invasive species as the removed growth immediately falls onto the ocean floor. Their semi-autonomous ITCH robot is unique in the way it's designed. Shipshave claims the robot is a plug-and-play system installed by the crew itself on the foredeck using the front winch. It's then tossed out on one of the sides of the ship to utilize the ship's power to move the robot up and down, using soft brushes to remove growth, causing minimal wear on antifouling paint.

Another Norwegian company, well known to the industry, has recently launched both software and hardware to increase fouling control for vessel owners. The leading marine coating provider, Jotun, has together with Kongsberg Maritime developed several new solutions for the shipping industry. Their collaboration has led to easier monitoring and increased fouling control, proactively limiting marine growth.

The Jotun Hull Skater was launched to market in 2020, being innovative by introducing the possibility to prevent marine growth from emerging on the ship hull instead of removing fouling when it's already emerged. The robot, which can also be described as a kind of a ship hull “toothbrush”, is a more advanced technology, compared to Shipshave’s ITCH. The robot itself is operated remotely by Jotun's team while the ship is anchored or in harbor, and the software system gives the ship crew insights regarding the state of the antifouling paint to optimize the next paint service.

Using ROVs for monitoring and immediately responding to fouling

A year after the introduction of the Hull Skater, Jotun followed up with the Hull Keeper, a proactive hull optimization program. The software promises to give ship operators a customized monitoring of hull performance and fouling pressure by combining trade auditing periods and oceanographic parameters in their algorithm. When the Hull Keeper signals the fouling to be at risk level, Jotun will perform a visual inspection of the hull with ROVs.

However, Jotun is not the only coating provider utilizing ROVs for hull inspections. Both Hempel and AkzoNobel have recently shared their plans for rolling out underwater ROV inspections.

Hull fouling is a significant contributor to speed loss, and at its worst has the potential to increase engine power requirements by close to 20% over five years. Being able to routinely and consistently monitor hull condition between routine dry-dockings with ROVs enables shipowners and operators to implement an appropriate maintenance schedule, which optimises vessel performance. - Christian Ottosen, Head of Marine Business, Hempel (quoted at rivieramm.com)

The development of new and more user-friendly ROVs has driven the possibility to perform more frequent ship hull inspections. And with COVID-19 isolating employers in their homes, software developments such as live-streaming inspections via Teams have enabled remote monitoring and quick decision making.

On the right path to reducing CO2 emissions and increasing biofouling management

IMO's strategy to reduce GHG emissions by 50% by 2050 compared to 2008 and phasing them out entirely this century is an ambitious goal. Together with GIA's facilitation to develop and disseminate technological solutions to improve biofouling management, it's safe to say that the shipping industry is moving forward in a positive direction. Though there is still a lot of change needed, we do see examples of innovative technology and new ways to manage biofouling, giving the industry more knowledge and tools to both reducing CO2 emissions and minimizing transferring invasive species across global regions.