Hullwash
ECO
Hullwasheco
Our hull washing system is a modern mechanical solution for fouling for your boat. Completely without using environmentally toxic chemicals, HullwashECO® washes the hull clean, while the boat is still in the water.
Norwegian technology
The hull washing facility is based on Norwegian-developed mechanical brush washing that washes off fouling, and the washing water is taken ashore for cleaning. No active substances are added, and the brush system is secured against leakage of washing water into surrounding water and sediments.
A global market
- Leisure boat owners as members of boat associations with service facilities
- Pleasure boat owners who use marinas as professional service providers
- The professional market (public and private)
Supported by
In 2017, the Norwegian Environment Agency allocated funds for the Pilot project below.
“Subsidy for measures against marine litter”, Environmentally friendly maintenance of leisure boats.
Commited to environmental responsibility.
Hullwash
ECO®
Hull washing solution for leisure boats HullwashECO®
Marine Pro will provide sustainable non-polluting hull washing systems for recreational boats and professional boats up to 60 feet, by delivering excellent services to the boat owner and state-of-the-art solutions to professional marinas and boat associations. The hull washing facility must be environmentally friendly with purification of the washing water, provide an optimal washing result and satisfied customers, and will have a modern, up-to-date technical standard with high uptime.
HullwashECO® will be an environmentally friendly solution that reduces time spent on spring preparation and maintenance throughout the season. This gives the leisure boat owner more time at sea, and the owner does not have to search for the perfect bottom material product, as well as use their own resources to keep the underwater hull clean. You simply start by stopping to fabricate the boat.
HullwashECO® will save the recreational boat owner money, as the cost of hull washing will be lower than doing the job yourself, and significantly lower than putting the work off. Hull washing provides maximum boat speed and optimal boat economy.
Transition from bottom material to forward-looking hard coating which is super smooth, waterproof and yet flexible, will give the underwater hull a perfect outer layer, optimized for hull washing or hull matting. We call the transition to a new coating the transformation. The result is a quality-assured, time-efficient, cost-reducing, predictable and lasting environmentally friendly step, which ensures your own health and the marine environment.
For boats under 25 feet, the solution can be an environmentally friendly hull mat, and thus smaller leisure boat owners can also stop applying environmentally unfriendly bottom material every year, and at the same time solve the problem of fouling of the hull.
The pilot plant has been tested throughout 2020 at Grundvik Marina, Tofte in Hurum. During 2023, we will launch the 0 series, and the ambition is to deploy up to five new facilities in the Oslofjord region this season. The deployment of additional hull washing facilities along the Norwegian coastline is being planned, so that both Southern Norway, Western Norway and Central Norway can have their first facilities in 2023/24. The Oslofjord region needs more than 20 hull washing facilities, and on a national basis a need for over 200 facilities. The goal is to largely cover the national need by 2030.
Hull washing solution for leisure boats
Why
Hullwash
ECO®
Hvorfor HullwashECO®
As of 2018, according to KNBF (Royal Norwegian Boating Association)’s boating survey, Norway has 948,000 recreational boats. Around half of these still use sediment containing toxins to prevent marine fouling. More than 400 tonnes of sediment is still applied to Norwegian leisure boats each year.
Bottom material consists of, among other things of polymers such as microplastics/resin, and have toxic and polluting agents called biocides, which represent a health hazard when cleaning boats and applying them. Bottom material as it appears today has a negative impact on marine life, and is thus not an environmentally friendly or sustainable product for boating.
There is an urgent need to change boat maintenance routines and become more environmentally conscious.
The use of environmentally unfriendly products will eventually cease and must be replaced by sustainable alternatives.
Illustration: / Source: Miljødirektoratet «Sources of microplastic pollution to the marine environment» / Mepex
Next generation hull washer
Next generation hull washer
- Effective cleaning
Effective and almost complete cleaning of the underwater hull with the boat in the sea
- Environmentally friendly
Virtually pollution-free process that also ensures the collection and treatment of sludge and waste and facilitates the recycling of valuable substances – circular economy
- Flexible
Flexible system solution where the facility can be adapted to the available area and existing infrastructure
- Cost effective
A cost- and time-efficient and competitive solution that makes it easy for boaters to make the green shift
- Reliable
A high degree of reliability and technical availability ensures good uptime and low maintenance costs
- Sustainable
Contribute to the entire boating industry becoming more environmentally friendly and sustainable
- Authority requirements
Ensure that the environmental requirements imposed by the authorities can actually be implemented
Measures from the Norwegian authorities
A strong spotlight has been placed on microplastics and the marine environment, and action is required.
In 2017 and 2018, COWI submitted two reports to the Norwegian Environment Agency, which describe emissions of microplastics and pollutants from leisure boats and marinas on the coast, as well as put forward proposals for measures that can reduce emissions.
The Norwegian Environment Agency is preparing a recommendation that updates regulations to the Ministry of Climate and the Environment for processing and consultation during 2022. The changes that “affect boaters”, boating associations and marinas will probably apply from 2022/2023.
Extract from the COWI report:
A hull washing facility can help to reduce or completely remove the need for bottom material for most recreational boats, and can be used by most (95%) of recreational boats. Today’s hull washing facilities are not completely closed facilities, which therefore pose a risk of the spread of microplastics and environmental toxins. Boats with bottom material should not be washed in hull washing facilities without the washing water being collected and cleaned, or other means ensuring that microplastics and environmental toxins are not spread.
Future hull washing facilities should be closed facilities with purification of the washing water, so that boats can be washed there and so that the spread of microplastics and environmental toxins is avoided.
New rules and measures
The government has stated that it will loyally follow the EU’s water directive. This may mean that products such as primer and bottom material in their current form may soon be banned from being used on recreational boats. The bottom material industry is of course working to develop new environmentally friendly products, but both silicone-based and nano-based products will probably not be approved for use as replacements for current products. There is still a long way to go for this industry.
It is also interesting that the authorities in Denmark, Germany and England are considering banning private individuals from handling products such as primer and primer – which contain solvents and are special waste.
Kristiansand municipality wants to make boat owners responsible for environmental substances that end up in nature. Storage areas for small boats are heavily contaminated with heavy metals, a new report from the municipality shows.
A much closer, better and more environmentally friendly alternative would be to stop using sediment and start washing the underwater hull instead. Recreational boat owners in Sweden have been doing this since 2009. There are even marinas with several hundred boats, where it is no longer allowed to have boats with bottom material applied. This is a result of the Swedish authorities having recognized and analyzed the problem (microplastics and environmental toxins in the sea cause dead or damaged marine organisms).
Sweden has also introduced a ban on residual TBT on the hull. In addition, a total ban has been introduced against the use of sediment products in fresh water and in the Gulf of Bothnia. In Sweden, the consequences for the marine food chain have therefore been looked at, and solutions have been found in real sustainable alternatives; which i.a. approved washing places on land (filtering and purification of the washing water, with approved environmental return of special waste) and approved solutions for hull washing of boats without seasonally applied sediment.
In Denmark, measures have been taken from 2019, and if you as a boat owner do not follow the new rules for the use of sediment products – it can mean fines or prison.
