ECOsubsea invests in Singapore with NOK 35m from Innovation Norway

(Posted on 16/07/24)

It is a climate and environmental problem that ship hulls are not cleaned often and gently. After being granted a growth loan of NOK 35 million from Innovation Norway, ECOsubsea will build up its hull cleaning solution in the port of Singapore.

"ECOsubsea can secure a position as a global market leader in hull cleaning. The new technology facilitates far more frequent hull washing, which causes less damage to the environment and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. This is an innovative project with great potential, which can have a major impact on Norwegian value creation," says Håkon Haugli, CEO of Innovation Norway.

Innovation Norway’s growth loans are given to companies that have concrete plans to grow outside Norway, but lack the security to be able to obtain full-fledged bank financing.

"This loan gives us the opportunity to expand our business, bring our environmentally friendly technology to more markets and make the shipping industry more sustainable. We are proud that Innovation Norway still sees a growth potential in ECOsubsea as we now establish ourselves in the world's second largest port," says CEO Tor Østervold of ECOsubsea.

From its base in Western Norway, ECOsubsea has for over a decade collaborated with shipowners, paint manufacturers, ports and authorities to develop an innovative, sustainable solution for cleaning vessel hulls. A remotely operated underwater vehicle cleans ship hulls by moving across the hull below the water's surface. Like a vacuum cleaner, the robot collects all the fouling. This is delivered as special waste where it can also be converted into biogas.

With the growth loan from Innovation Norway, ECOsubsea will scale up its solution. With the help of their next generation of cleaning robots that are ten times faster than traditional solutions, they will solve the cleaning needs of the world's largest ships while they are bunkering. Currently, ships can be delayed by up to 24 hours due to washing. They will avoid this with ECOsubsea's solution. Innovation Norway's growth loan will support the start-up and commercial operation of this in the Port of Singapore.

The benefits are far more cleaner ships, which use less fuel. ECOsubsea believes that the solution alone can contribute to an annual saving of 10 million tonnes of CO2. Because ECOsubsea also collects the waste from cleaning, the ocean is spared from toxins, heavy metals and microplastics, while avoiding the spread of unwanted species.

"ECOsubsea will use the growth loan from Innovation Norway to increase the pace of the company's growth and presence in the global market to meet the ever-growing demand for environmentally friendly solutions in the shipping industry. ECOsubsea will now strengthen the team with new hires and increase the pace of the work on the internationalization of this world-leading technology from Norway," says Østervold.

ECOsubsea offers an advanced hull cleaning solution that is gentle on the ships' sediments, effective against fouling and reduces the ships' fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.
When using remotely operated underwater robots, ECOsubsea's patented technology captures fouling residues through a closed system, ensuring compliance with environmental regulations and avoiding the spread of unwanted species.
For over a decade, ECOsubsea has collaborated with shipowners, ports and environmental authorities to deliver a sustainable and world-leading hull cleaning solution.