Managing biofouling on ship hulls has been a topic of interest for thousands of years. Like many things in the marine industry, progress in this field has been the result of a slow, steady churn of technological improvements, punctuated by periodic significant advancements (e.g. copper sheathing, anti-fouling & fouling release paints). We are now in the midst of another advancement: hull cleaning. Hull cleaning refers to the gentle, habitual and frequent mechanical maintenance of submerged ships’ hulls in order that they remain free from extraneous matter such as fouling organisms and particulate debris, with minimal impact on the coating. In hindsight, it seems remarkably simple – clean it regularly in a way that doesn’t damage the paint. As it turns out, some of those adjectives (gentle, frequent, habitual) are not easy to achieve.

EverClean™ is an autonomous robotic hull cleaning service that delivers always clean hulls made possible by combining a Robot-as-a-Service (RaaS) business model with the next generation of hull cleaning robotics. The Armach vehicle has some distinct advantages – a small platform to get into tighter spaces on the hull, and caterpillar tracks which are kinder to hull coatings.

Because the Armach vehicle is scalable and efficient, cleanings can be performed more regularly using a thoroughly tested brush system that is non-destructive to the hull coating with built-in system intelligence which means it won’t overwork the coatings – adding yet another cost benefit. The system also saves costs by reporting valuable information back to the shipowner, effectively creating a hull condition survey every time it cleans a hull. If any damage or corrosion is picked up early by the robot’s cameras and sensors, decisions can be made on whether rectification is necessary or whether ongoing monitoring will suffice.

EverClean, makes operating with always clean hulls finally possible in an industry that has been doing things the same way for centuries and stands ready to provide a service solution to always clean hulls and hull intelligence for the marine industry today.

Don’t let biofouling drag you down. Schedule an EverClean consultation today and see how to save fuel, reduce carbon emissions, and mitigate invasive species transfer.