By Cleanship Marine Services · Published · last updated · 4 min read
How long does bulk carrier hold cleaning take? Realistic timings and manpower
"How long will it take?" is the first question every operator asks, and "it depends" is the honest answer nobody wants to hear. So let's make "it depends" useful. Hold cleaning time is driven by a handful of factors you can know in advance, and once you know them you can plan with surprising accuracy.
The five things that decide how long it takes
- The previous cargo. Grain after grain is quick. Green petcoke to grain is the slow end of the scale. Cement that's been left to set can turn a cleaning job into a chipping job.
- The required standard. Shovel clean takes hours. Grain clean after a dirty cargo takes days.
- Ship size and number of holds. A Handysize or Supramax usually has five holds, a Panamax or Kamsarmax seven, a Capesize nine, and bigger holds are taller, which matters for reaching the upper structure.
- Manpower and equipment. How many people actually work in the holds, and with what? A crew with one tired HP pump and a combi-gun moves at a very different pace from a gang with dedicated machines.
- Drying conditions. Hot and dry, a hold can dry in hours. Humid or raining, it may not dry at all without help.
Rough timings by job type
These are planning ranges for a typical five-hold Supramax with a competent team and working equipment. Treat them as a starting point, not a promise.
| Job | Typical effort per hold | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Shovel / sweep clean | A few hours | No washing |
| Normal clean (similar cargo) | Roughly half a day to a day | Sweep, wash, fresh water rinse, dry |
| Grain clean after a clean cargo | Around a day | Sweep, wash, rinse, dry, bilge prep |
| Grain clean after coal | One to two days | Chemical stage adds most of the time |
| Grain clean after green petcoke | Two days or more | Upper structure is the bottleneck |
| Cement / clinker, residue set hard | Highly variable | Mechanical removal first |
Holds can be worked in parallel if you have the people and equipment, so total ship time isn't simply per-hold time × number of holds. It's also the reason ship's crew timings are so much longer: they usually work one or two holds at a time and still have to keep watches.
How many men are needed to clean five holds?
Again, it depends on the standard, but here's a practical way to think about it. A small team of four to six people can sweep, wash and rinse one hold at a reasonable pace. For a full grain clean after a dirty cargo, with chemicals and HP washing on the upper structure, you'll want at least that many per hold being worked, plus someone running equipment and chemical mixing on deck.
So for five holds:
- Ship's crew only: typically six to eight people available, working one or two holds at a time around their watch and maintenance duties. A dirty-to-grain change can take most of a week or more.
- Shore gang or riding crew: a team of 10 to 20 can work several holds at once, often cutting the overall time by more than half.
Our riding crews range from 4 to 20 people depending on the holds and the time available on passage.
How long does a single hold take?
For a lightly soiled hold, a well-equipped team can sweep, wash, rinse and start drying in about a working day. For a dirty-to-grain change, plan one to two days per hold for the cleaning, plus drying. The upper structure and the chemical stage are where hours disappear.
What slows hold cleaning down?
- Not knowing the next cargo in time. Crews clean to a guess, then have to redo it.
- Late starts. Residue that's been sitting for days, especially cement and petcoke, is harder to shift.
- Equipment problems. One HP pump for the whole ship, or a pump that's unreliable.
- Running out of chemicals or fresh water. Common, and avoidable.
- Weather. Rain stops drying and can stop washing. Heavy seas can stop work on passage.
- Access to the upper structure. Without a way to get close to high frames, they become the thing that holds up the inspection.
- Port restrictions. No washing alongside, limited washing at anchorage, or wash water restrictions under MARPOL and local rules.
How to make it faster
- Get the bulk of the residue out during discharge. Every tonne the stevedores take is a tonne you don't.
- Start cleaning as each hold empties. Don't wait for the whole ship to finish discharge.
- Order chemicals and plan fresh water before you arrive at the discharge port.
- Plan drying. Finish the holds that will be inspected first, first.
- Add people where time is tight. A shore gang during the port stay, or a riding crew on the ballast passage, can compress a week of crew work into a day or two.
- Solve access to the upper structure. Rope access avoids staging, which can take as long to rig as the cleaning takes to do.
Follow the right sequence too. Our step-by-step cargo hold cleaning procedure is built to avoid redoing work.
How long should you allow for grain-clean preparation?
Work backwards from the inspection time. Allow drying time first (at least a day in good weather), then the fresh water rinse, then the washing and chemical work, and then sweeping. Compare that to the time you actually have. If there's a gap, you need more hands or more time, and it's much cheaper to know that before the ship sails from the discharge port. There's more detail in our guide on preparing cargo holds for grain.
Sources & further reading
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to clean a bulk carrier hold?
A lightly soiled hold can be swept, washed and rinsed in about a working day. A hold going from coal or petcoke to grain clean can take one to two days or more, plus drying time.
How many men are needed to clean five cargo holds?
A ship's crew of six to eight can do it, but slowly, often over most of a week for a dirty-to-grain change. A shore gang or riding crew of 10 to 20 can work several holds at once and finish much faster.
How many days should be allowed for grain-clean preparation?
It depends on the previous cargo. After a clean cargo, one to two days for the whole ship may be enough. After petcoke or coal, plan several days, with at least a day of drying at the end.
What is the biggest cause of hold cleaning delays?
Usually not the cleaning itself but late planning: not knowing the next cargo, starting late, running out of chemicals or fresh water, or having no way to reach the upper structure.
Can a shore gang reduce hold cleaning time?
Yes. A shore gang adds people and equipment so several holds can be worked at the same time, which often halves the time or better compared to ship's crew alone.
- how long does hold cleaning take
- hold cleaning time
- cargo hold cleaning duration
- how many men to clean cargo holds
- grain clean preparation time
- bulk carrier hold cleaning manpower
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