Explosion-proof hull cleaning
The Thunderbird 2 was christened in Rotterdam by Mirelle Pennings, director of commercial banking at Rabobank and is said to be the world’s first ship that can clean tankers in an explosion-proof way thanks to its ATEX certified equipment.
“We followed the guidelines that tankers themselves use – from sensors that measure gas to the crew accommodation that is set to overpressure,” said Alex Noordstrand, chief executive of Fleet Cleaner.
Fleet Cleaner’s robot cleans the hull during loading and unloading, making it a time-efficient way to keep hulls clear of fouling. Looking for an explosion-proof way of cleaning hulls, tank storage company Vopak participated in a pilot project and the service is now commercially available.
Owners Cornelis de Vet and Alex Noordstrand said that it was important for tankers to be able to use the service. “If you consider that 90 per cent of world trade takes place through international shipping, then cleaning all those ships yields great gains for the climate,” they said.
Fleet Cleaner expects to add a third work vessel to its fleet by the end of this year and is also working to set up services in world ports such as Singapore.
