Tamil Nadu · INMAA

Hold Cleaning at Chennai Port

Holds ready for the next fixture at Chennai Port — a sheltered artificial harbour on the Bay of Bengal.

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Tell us the vessel, the port and the window. Scoped reply, usually the same working day.

Cleanship Marine cleans cargo holds at Chennai Port (INMAA), Tamil Nadu — shore gangs alongside, riding crews on the passage out, and IRATA rope access teams for the upper hold. The standard is the one the next fixture demands, and the residue and washings are disposed of to MARPOL Annex V rather than left with the master.

Chennai is the largest container port on India's east coast and the automobile gateway for the southern manufacturing belt. Liner container ships and car carriers work to fixed rotations here, which makes hull cleaning and propeller polishing a scheduled item that has to fit inside an existing cargo window rather than extend it.

Working conditions at Chennai

Work here starts alongside, and where the berth window runs out it continues on the outward passage with a riding crew — the berth will not be held open for it. The north-east monsoon sets the outer limits of the calendar, roughly October to December, and it affects the anchorage far more than the berth. Access approval runs through Chennai Port Authority and the terminal, and the disposal route for residues and washings is fixed before the gang boards rather than found afterwards.

Where we work: Bharathi Dock and Jawahar Dock berths · Ambedkar Dock · Outer anchorage
Vessels we see here: Container ships on liner rotations · Pure car and truck carriers · General cargo ships

Hold Cleaning scopes at Chennai

3 scopes, one team and one mobilisation. Most vessels calling here take more than one on the same attendance.

Planning the window at Chennai

The north-east monsoon governs the calendar at Chennai Port, roughly October to December. The Bay of Bengal also carries cyclone risk in April to June and again from October to December, so an anchorage attendance on this coast is planned with a standby allowance rather than a single fixed date. Turnaround here is quick and the berth will not be held open for cleaning, so the work is either sequenced hold by hold behind the discharge as each one empties, or handed to a riding crew to complete on the passage out. Waiting for all holds to be empty is waiting past the berth window.

Teams mobilise via Chennai (MAA), so give us the ETA as early as you have it — the travel is the flexible part, the approvals and the working window are not.

What we typically find at Chennai

Chennai runs containers, cars and project cargo rather than dirty bulk, so hold work here is bilges, tank tops, cell guides and lashing gear — steady maintenance scope on liner tonnage rather than a residue clean against a fixture.

This is container and unitised tonnage, so the scope is cell guides, hold bilges, bilge wells, tank tops and lashing gear rather than a bulk residue clean — steady maintenance work at height and in confined spaces, on ships that will not extend a berth window for it.

How we deliver it at Chennai

1
Scope and vessel details
Tell us the vessel, her particulars, the last and next cargo and the window at Chennai. We come back with a defined scope, a crew size and a duration we will stand behind. Where the conditions here will not support what has been asked for, we say so at this stage rather than after mobilisation.
2
Approvals and waste routing
Access and working approval is arranged with Chennai Port Authority and the terminal, and the disposal route for residues and washings is fixed before the gang boards — MARPOL Annex V compliance is a documented chain at Chennai, not an assurance. Where reception is limited, the plan changes rather than the paperwork.
3
Mobilisation to Chennai
Gangs, pumps, chemicals and equipment mobilise via Chennai (MAA). Where a vessel is also calling at Ennore, one mobilisation is normally sized to cover both.
4
Entry, sequencing and the work
Enclosed-space entry runs to the vessel's own permit system, with a fresh gas test before every entry and after every break. Gas testing, standby cover and continuous supervision run throughout, and progress is reported hold by hold rather than only at the end.
5
Report and handover
A completion report covering hold cleaning is issued with before-and-after imagery, hold by hold and anything found that you should know about. The findings are discussed with the vessel rather than emailed and forgotten.

Chennai Port at a glance

UN/LOCODE: INMAA
Port type: Major Port
State: Tamil Nadu
Country: India
Water body: Bay of Bengal
Port authority: Chennai Port Authority
Main cargoes: Containers, Automobiles and RoRo, General and project cargo, Granite
Crew mobilisation: Chennai (MAA)
Services here: Hull Cleaning and Hold Cleaning

Frequently asked — Chennai Port

Does Cleanship provide hold cleaning at Chennai Port?

Yes. We cover the full hold cleaning scope at Chennai Port (INMAA), Tamil Nadu — cargo hold cleaning (shore gang), hold cleaning riding crew and rope access hold cleaning. Teams mobilise via Chennai (MAA).

Where is the work done at Chennai — alongside, at anchorage or on passage?

Work here starts alongside, and where the berth window runs out it continues on the outward passage with a riding crew — the berth will not be held open for it.

Who approves hold cleaning work at Chennai?

Chennai Port Authority issues the port-side approval at Chennai Port, with terminal approval on top where the berth requires it. We arrange both, along with the waste reception and disposal route, so it does not fall to the agent or the master.

Which vessels call at Chennai?

Container ships on liner rotations, Pure car and truck carriers, General cargo ships — Chennai Port is a sheltered artificial harbour on the Bay of Bengal, handling containers, automobiles and roro, general and project cargo, granite. Those are the profiles we see most, and the scope is sized to the vessel rather than to a standard package.

Can this be done without taking the vessel off hire at Chennai?

Yes — that is the point of it. Every scope listed here is carried out with the vessel afloat and working, at the berth, at the anchorage or on the passage out. Shore gangs work alongside or at anchorage and riding crews finish on the passage, so no port time is spent on cleaning and the vessel is never off hire.

Do you cover other ports near Chennai?

Yes. Ennore, Krishnapatnam and Tuticorin all sit within the same operating range for hold cleaning, and a single mobilisation is often sized to cover more than one vessel on the same trip. We work 45 ports on the coverage list for this line.

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