Washing the bottom of a ship, or the hull, has long been a headache for the shipping industry. With traditional hull washing, everything that is washed off is discharged directly into the sea. This means that toxins, heavy metals and microplastics from the hull paint end up in the water. The ships also take with them potentially harmful invasive species and spread them further. These species can come from waters from all over the world. An example of this is the alien species harbor sparrow. Now the Austevoll company Ecosubsea believes they have found the solution: They have created a new form of hull washing. – We see that approximately 80 percent of new introduced species around the world are introduced through marine fouling on ships. It costs the world community more than 400 billion dollars every year because it destroys local fauna, says managing director of Ecosubsea, Tor Mikal Østervold. This rudder has grown on the underside of a ship. Photo: Sissel Rikheim / news Marine fouling is the term for lime, grass and sludge that grows on the bottom of a ship. It has become a growing problem. – It is extremely important that we replace polluting solutions with solutions that are sustainable and collect, for example, harbor vomit instead of releasing it into the harbor area, he continues. Can save millions of tonnes of CO₂ Ecosubsea’s variant is like a vacuum cleaner, which literally sucks the fouling off the ships. The sludge is collected in a container on land, and it is then sent for biogas production. In this way, the waste is not released into the sea again, and the risk of spreading unknown species is significantly reduced. Another problem with marine fouling is that it leads to large emissions. – As soon as you put a ship in water, you start to get marine fouling. This increases friction on a ship in water, and means that you have to use more oil to maintain the desired speed. It also means, as a direct consequence, that the ships must emit much more CO₂, says Østervold. Shipping accounts for 3 percent of global emissions today. The Austevoll company believes that a more efficient handling of fouling can reduce these emissions by 10 per cent. This corresponds to 100 million tonnes of CO₂. Ecosubsea believes that they alone can contribute to annual savings of 10 million tonnes. This machine receives the sludge after hull washing. Photo: Sissel Rikheim / news Gets up to NOK 20 million In total, the project costs around NOK 150 million. The company now receives a grant of up to NOK 20 million from Innovation Norway for the development of the new type of hull washing. Ecosubsea one of the few companies that has a license to perform its services in a number of European ports that require the fouling to be collected on land. Today, they deliver services to Northern Europe, Great Britain and Norway. Photo: Sissel Rikheim / news – We contribute as little as we can, but as much as is necessary to trigger the project. We have assessed that these 20 million will actually ensure that the company enters the markets globally and succeeds. That’s what Håkon Haugli, head of Innovation Norway, says. He justifies the financial support with the fact that there will be good opportunities for export income, creating jobs in Austevoll and that it also reduces the risk of damage to nature. – It’s fantastic fun that this company is developing something for which there really is a large market all over the world.
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