Clean for spot market

Handymax vessels can find themselves carrying “cement, then grain, then pet coke on very short hops between ports”, Hunter explained. That has been causing issues for the cargo hold cleaning regime, “which can be a hot and dirty job, made more awkward because many vessels are running with minimal crew these days”.

If a ship fails the port inspection because the cargo hold is not clean enough, it then has to go off hire and leave the port area in order to get cleaned by manual shore labour. In some cases this can cost up to US$300,000, said Hunter – serious cost and if you are only on a US$5,000 a day charter rate it.

The issue can also cause problems far beyond the ship itself. Western Australia in particular has seen grain backlogs caused, in part, by consecutive incoming grain transport vessels failing government hygiene inspections.

It is partly a matter of getting the right equipment onboard, said Hunter: “You need a pressure washer that is efficient enough to be operable in difficult weather and one that has enough power to get to the top of the cargo hold; it sounds simple enough but you be amazed at the number of washers with a spray that just fails to reach the right height to do a thorough job.

“While you can buy budget washers fairly cheaply, there’s no point in the saving if it breaks down and there’s no support – it’s still too much of an investment just to leave sitting rusting in the corner.”