NGO Bellona Foundation<\/a>\u00a0has now launched the Clean Hull Initiative (CHI) to address the biofouling issue.<\/p>\n\u2018The CHI brings together a growing number of stakeholders in both the private and public sectors and aims to develop an industry-wide recognised and accepted standard for proactive hull cleaning which currently does not exist,\u2019 says Bellona\u2019s project manager Runa Skarb\u00f8. \u2018We believe the standard is an important means to establish proactive cleaning as part of the biofouling management toolbox and will also drive innovation and the market for commercial proactive hull cleaning solutions.\u2019<\/p>\n
Frederic Hauge, founder of the Bellona Foundation, adds: \u2018Together we will seek to sort out the regulatory barriers currently in the way of solving the biofouling issue. Also, we want to reduce barriers for the further uptake of emerging proactive hull cleaning technology as a preventative tool.\u2019<\/p>\n
Focus on proactive cleaning<\/h2>\n
There are of course other collaborations and initiatives that seek to tackle the biofouling issue, but Skarb\u00f8 points out the CHI is unique in the sense that it is addressing proactive cleaning issues. She says regulatory inconsistencies worldwide create a major barrier to ship operators wanting to manage biofouling proactively, and for in-water cleaning (IWC) providers operating in multiple locations.<\/p>\n
Compounded by the absence of any international regulation or standard for hull cleaning, today there is no international regulating body for ports and anchorages where IWC takes place. Local biofouling and\/or IWC management guidelines vary hugely, if they exist at all.<\/p>\n
Revision of IMO biofouling guidelines<\/h2>\n
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is currently revising its biofouling guidelines.<\/p>\n
Sveinung Oftedahl, specialist director in the Norwegian Ministry of climate and environment: \u2018The revision of the guidelines is currently being undertaken by a dedicated sub-committee and the work is progressing well, with completion targeted next year.\u2019<\/p>\n
According to him, the key goal is to increase uptake and effectiveness of the guidelines: \u2018The intention is to make the guidelines clearer and less general meaning \u201cspecific recommendations on what to do, how to do it, when to do to it\u201d as well as include user-specific guidance and allocate clearly the responsibilities of various stakeholders. Moreover, the guidelines are to reflect chronological sequence from ship design to end of service life.\u2019<\/p>\n
CHI stakeholders<\/h2>\n
The CHI stakeholder members currently include Jotun, iKnowHow, Armach Robotics, Notilo Plus, Hapag-Lloyd, Wallenius Wilhelmsen, DNV, the M\u00e6rsk Mc-Kinney M\u00f8ller Centre for Zero Carbon Shipping, Litehauz, Port of Antwerp Bruges, ShipShave, VesselCheck, LimnoMar, Endures, CleanSubSea, the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (Alliance for Coastal Technologies and Maritime Environmental Resource Centre, ACT\/MERC) and University of Strathclyde.<\/p>\n
Source: https:\/\/swzmaritime.nl\/news\/2022\/08\/03\/ngo-bellona-launches-initiative-to-tackle-biofouling-through-proactive-cleaning\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Severe underwater biofouling slows the affected ship and can increase its fuel consumption by as much as forty per cent, boosting emissions. In addition, the accumulation of marine life may cause the spread of invasive aquatic species in environments they\u2019re transported to, affecting biodiversity, ecosystem health and the livelihoods of coastal communities. It\u2019s something that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[23],"class_list":["post-20365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-maritime-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/developmenttask.com\/ShipIpLtd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/developmenttask.com\/ShipIpLtd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/developmenttask.com\/ShipIpLtd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/developmenttask.com\/ShipIpLtd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/developmenttask.com\/ShipIpLtd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/developmenttask.com\/ShipIpLtd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20365\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/developmenttask.com\/ShipIpLtd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/developmenttask.com\/ShipIpLtd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/developmenttask.com\/ShipIpLtd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}