Hold Cleaning at Dhamra Port
Holds ready for the next fixture at Dhamra Port — Capesize dry bulk tonnage on the Odisha coast.
Get a quote
Tell us the vessel, the port and the window. Scoped reply, usually the same working day.
Cleanship Marine cleans cargo holds at Dhamra Port (INDMA), Odisha — 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.
Dhamra is a privately operated deep-water port on the Odisha coast built around dry bulk, feeding coal and iron ore into the eastern steel and power belt. The Capesize and Panamax bulk carriers calling here carry the largest wetted hull areas of any traffic in India, which is also where the absolute fuel saving from a clean hull is largest.
Working conditions at Dhamra
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 Dhamra Port Company and the terminal, and the disposal route for residues and washings is fixed before the gang boards rather than found afterwards.
- Where we work
- Deep-draft bulk berths · Outer anchorage
- Vessels we see here
- Capesize and Panamax bulk carriers · LNG carriers
Hold Cleaning scopes at Dhamra
3 scopes, one team and one mobilisation. Most vessels calling here take more than one on the same attendance.
Planning the window at Dhamra
The north-east monsoon governs the calendar at Dhamra 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 Bhubaneswar (BBI), 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 Dhamra
Coal and iron ore in Capesize quantities is the worst-case hold brief and it is the standing one at Dhamra: coal dust films every surface while ore fines pack into the frames and the tank-top margins. On tonnage this size the hold area alone makes it a riding-crew job rather than a berth-window one.
The standing residues at Dhamra Port are thermal and coking coal, iron ore, limestone — the dusty, abrasive kind that films every surface and packs into frames, brackets and the tank-top margins. Anything following into a clean or food-grade cargo needs the full sequence: sweep, wash, rinse and dry, not a hose down.
How we deliver it at Dhamra
- 1
Scope and vessel details
Tell us the vessel, her particulars, the last and next cargo and the window at Dhamra. 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 Dhamra Port Company 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 Dhamra, not an assurance. Where reception is limited, the plan changes rather than the paperwork.
- 3
Mobilisation to Dhamra
Gangs, pumps, chemicals and equipment mobilise via Bhubaneswar (BBI). Where a vessel is also calling at Paradip, 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.
Dhamra Port at a glance
- UN/LOCODE
- INDMA
- Port type
- Private Port
- State
- Odisha
- Country
- India
- Water body
- Bay of Bengal
- Port authority
- Dhamra Port Company
- Main cargoes
- Thermal and coking coal, Iron ore, Limestone, LNG
- Crew mobilisation
- Bhubaneswar (BBI)
- Services here
- Hull Cleaning, Hold Cleaning and Tank Cleaning
Frequently asked — Dhamra Port
Does Cleanship provide hold cleaning at Dhamra Port?
Yes. We cover the full hold cleaning scope at Dhamra Port (INDMA), Odisha — cargo hold cleaning (shore gang), hold cleaning riding crew and rope access hold cleaning. Teams mobilise via Bhubaneswar (BBI).
Where is the work done at Dhamra — 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 Dhamra?
Dhamra Port Company issues the port-side approval at Dhamra 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 Dhamra?
Capesize and Panamax bulk carriers, LNG carriers — Dhamra Port is Capesize dry bulk tonnage on the Odisha coast, handling thermal and coking coal, iron ore, limestone, lng. 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 Dhamra?
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 Dhamra?
Yes. Paradip, Haldia and Kolkata 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.
Hold Cleaning at Dhamra Port.
Tell us the vessel, her ETA at Dhamra and the window. You get a scope, a crew size and an honest duration — usually the same working day.