Hold Cleaning at Haldia Port
Holds ready for the next fixture at Haldia Port — strong tidal stream and near-zero visibility on the Hooghly.
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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 Haldia Port (INHAL), West Bengal — 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.
Haldia is the deep-water dock complex of the Kolkata port system, near the mouth of the Hooghly, where draft restrictions further upriver make it the practical limit for larger tonnage. Tankers and coal carriers serving the eastern refining and steel belt make up most of the traffic.
Working conditions at Haldia
Work here runs both alongside and at anchorage depending on the call, and on the passage out where neither gives enough time. 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 Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port, Kolkata and the terminal, and the disposal route for residues and washings is fixed before the gang boards rather than found afterwards.
- Where we work
- Dock complex berths · Oil jetties · River anchorage
- Vessels we see here
- Product and chemical tankers · Bulk carriers · Feeder container ships
Hold Cleaning scopes at Haldia
3 scopes, one team and one mobilisation. Most vessels calling here take more than one on the same attendance.
Planning the window at Haldia
The north-east monsoon governs the calendar at Haldia 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. Some vessels sit and some turn straight round, so the plan is agreed against the actual call rather than a standard package: a shore gang alongside where there is time, a riding crew on the outward passage where there is not.
Teams mobilise via Kolkata (CCU), 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 Haldia
Coking coal and fertiliser are the standing residues at Haldia, and the river adds a complication the coastal ports do not have. Humidity here is high year-round, so holds washed late and shut up damp will not dry — and a damp hold fails a grain inspection regardless of how clean it looks.
Haldia Port runs pol and petrochemicals, coking coal, containers through the same holds, and that sequence is where the money is lost: mineral fines and dust from one fixture will fail an inspection for the next if the holds are only swept. The standard that matters is the one the next cargo demands, not the one the last one left.
How we deliver it at Haldia
- 1
Scope and vessel details
Tell us the vessel, her particulars, the last and next cargo and the window at Haldia. 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 Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port, Kolkata 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 Haldia, not an assurance. Where reception is limited, the plan changes rather than the paperwork.
- 3
Mobilisation to Haldia
Gangs, pumps, chemicals and equipment mobilise via Kolkata (CCU). Where a vessel is also calling at Kolkata, 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.
Haldia Port at a glance
- UN/LOCODE
- INHAL
- Port type
- Major Port
- State
- West Bengal
- Country
- India
- Water body
- Hooghly River
- Port authority
- Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port, Kolkata
- Main cargoes
- POL and petrochemicals, Coking coal, Containers, Fertiliser, Steel
- Crew mobilisation
- Kolkata (CCU)
- Services here
- Hull Cleaning, Hold Cleaning and Tank Cleaning
Frequently asked — Haldia Port
Does Cleanship provide hold cleaning at Haldia Port?
Yes. We cover the full hold cleaning scope at Haldia Port (INHAL), West Bengal — cargo hold cleaning (shore gang), hold cleaning riding crew and rope access hold cleaning. Teams mobilise via Kolkata (CCU).
Where is the work done at Haldia — alongside, at anchorage or on passage?
Work here runs both alongside and at anchorage depending on the call, and on the passage out where neither gives enough time.
Who approves hold cleaning work at Haldia?
Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port, Kolkata issues the port-side approval at Haldia 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 Haldia?
Product and chemical tankers, Bulk carriers, Feeder container ships — Haldia Port is strong tidal stream and near-zero visibility on the Hooghly, handling pol and petrochemicals, coking coal, containers, fertiliser, steel. 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 Haldia?
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 Haldia?
Yes. Kolkata, Paradip and Dhamra 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 Haldia Port.
Tell us the vessel, her ETA at Haldia and the window. You get a scope, a crew size and an honest duration — usually the same working day.