The first on-board automatic ship hull management cleaning system for hull fouling prevention towards maritime eco-efficiency

Project Information

FLIpER

Grant agreement ID: 762253

DOI

10.3030/762253

Project closed

EC signature date 23 January 2017

Start date 1 January 2017

End date 31 May 2017

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Smart, Green And Integrated Transport

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

CLIIN APS
Denmark

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - FLIpER (The first on-board automatic ship hull management cleaning system for hull fouling prevention towards maritime eco-efficiency)

Reporting period: 2017-01-01 to 2017-05-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

• What is the problem/issue being addressed?
The challenge of keeping the hull of a ship clean and smooth at all times, to reduce fuel consumption, emission of Green House Gasses (GHG) and avoiding the transportation and release of invasive species, is an ongoing struggle for the shipping industry. It is estimated that the global commercial fleet has an annual fuel penalty of € 13.2 billion, equaling 60.000.000 tons of fuel and 180.000.000 tons of Green House Gasses released into the environment, all due to hull fouling. Introduction of invasive species through hull fouling on ships, are a serious threat to any native biodiversity and many local marine environments around the world have been impacted by invasive species and in some cases completely eradicated the original marine life.

• Why is it important for society?
For obvious reasons, reducing the use of fuel and emission of GHG has a positive impact to the environment The numbers mentioned above is astonishing and should be addressed as soon as possible as it has an impact on the entire population and potentially an effect on global warming. Saving the local marine life and bio diversity from invasive species is for many societies an important task.

• What are the overall objectives?
To introduce an environmental solution that addresses the above challenge. Cliin’s cleaning solution will have the ability to:
-Constantly secure minimal fuel penalty
-Constantly keep emission of GHG to a minimum
-Minimize the transportation of invasive species
-Avoid dangerous work related to cleaning of ships’ hulls
-Avoid damage to ships’ coating
-Reduce/avoid the usage of toxic coating

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Since the beginning of the project we have established the following milestones:
• Determined that our technology is technically sound
• Needs to be automated, certified and comply with industrial standards
• The economic and environmental benefits need to be quantified.
• Cliin has started to map its future suppliers and distributors.
• Able to engage ship owners for demonstration activities
• We have Freedom to Operate in EU and Asia.
• Meets the current and future environmental requirements.
• The next testing phase was planned.
• Funding is required to give us first mover advantage.

Most importantly, we have during the project gotten clear confirmations that our inventive solution addresses the issues described above in a cost effective and manageable way, that shipowners appreciate.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

FLIpER is a paradigm shift in the approach to deal with fouling: it applies a proactive rather than a reactive approach, which can maintain the hull completely free from fouling. This represents a major step towards sustainable shipping, not only saving fuel but also contributing to a cleaner air, minimizing the transport of invasive species in the fouling and supporting the use of non-toxic anti-fouling coatings.

Robot in action

Robot drawing