Banjul · GMBJL

Hull Cleaning at Banjul Port

In-water hull, propeller and survey work at Banjul Port — The Gambia's only seaport, at the mouth of a tidal river.

Get a quote

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

Cleanship Marine provides the full underwater scope at Banjul Port (GMBJL), Banjul — hull cleaning, propeller super polishing, bow and stern thruster work, class-approved in-water survey and UWILD. Every scope is carried out with the vessel afloat and on hire, at the berth or at the anchorage.

Banjul is The Gambia's only seaport and the gateway for most of what the country imports — rice, sugar, flour, cement, fuel and containers — with some cargo moving on into Senegal and further inland. The Gambia Ports Authority runs about 750 metres of quay, including the Banjul Wharf, the New Banjul Jetty and its container berths, a fisheries jetty and the terminal for the Banjul–Barra ferries across the river mouth.

Working conditions at Banjul

Banjul sits at the mouth of the Gambia River, and the water at its berths is estuary water: tidal, fast-flowing on the ebb and flood, and carrying sediment down from a river that drains a large part of West Africa. A sand bar in the entrance channel limits vessels to about a 9-metre draft, and the deepest-drafted ships time their passage to the flood tide. For in-water work that means two things — dives are timed to slack water, and visibility at the berths is low enough that divers work by touch under surface supervision.

Where we work: Banjul Wharf · New Banjul Jetty and container berths · Fisheries jetty · Banjul–Barra ferry terminal
Vessels we see here: Feeder container ships · General cargo ships · Banjul–Barra ferries · Fishing vessels · Small cruise ships

Hull Cleaning scopes at Banjul

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

Planning the window at Banjul

The combination of Atlantic swell and rain governs the calendar at Banjul Port, with the heaviest rain from May to October and swell running year-round. The swell here is long-period Atlantic ground swell rather than wind-driven sea, so it reaches the anchorages on days that look calm from the bridge and it is the single biggest cause of a lost in-water window on this coast. The tidal stream and the silt load govern the method here: the working window is slack water, not the working day, and the operation is planned by feel and surface supervision with video kept as the record rather than as the diver's means of navigation.

Work is taken at the Banjul Wharf, New Banjul Jetty and container berths, fisheries jetty, Banjul–Barra ferry terminal, and which of those a vessel ends up at changes the dive plan more than the season does. Teams mobilise via Banjul (BJL), 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 Banjul

Container tonnage on a fixed rotation shows the familiar pattern: light slime over most of the vertical sides, with the real accumulation in the flat bottom, the bilge keels and the niches where flow is slowest. Those are the areas that cost fuel and the ones a quick clean tends to skip.

Silt settles over the growth on the flat bottom and in the niches, which masks the true fouling state until the divers are actually on it. That is why the pre-clean survey here is a real step rather than a formality.

How we deliver it at Banjul

1
Scope and vessel details
Tell us the vessel, her particulars, the coating specification and the window at Banjul. 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
Permits and approvals
Gambia Ports Authority approves the work alongside the local harbour master, and at a state port that conversation is quicker but less formal — it is worth having in writing. Diving permission, terminal approval and any environmental clearance for in-water work are handled by us, not left with the agent to chase.
3
Mobilisation to Banjul
Divers, compressors, brush carts and cameras mobilise via Banjul (BJL). Where a vessel is also calling at Gambia River, one mobilisation is normally sized to cover both.
4
Safety setup and the dive
The vessel is secured for diving — main engine, shaft and thrusters immobilised, sea suctions confirmed shut, permit agreed with the master. Teams work under surface supervision with continuous diver communications and video throughout.
5
Report and handover
A completion report covering hull cleaning is issued with before-and-after imagery, coating and anode condition and anything found that you should know about. The findings are discussed with the vessel rather than emailed and forgotten.

Banjul Port at a glance

UN/LOCODE: GMBJL
Port type: State Port
State: Banjul
Country: The Gambia
Water body: Gambia River estuary
Port authority: Gambia Ports Authority
Main cargoes: Containers, Rice, sugar and flour, Cement and general cargo, Fuel, Fishing catch
Crew mobilisation: Banjul (BJL)
Services here: Hull Cleaning

Frequently asked — Banjul Port

Does Cleanship provide hull cleaning at Banjul Port?

Yes. We cover the full hull cleaning scope at Banjul Port (GMBJL), Banjul — underwater hull cleaning, propeller polishing, thruster cleaning & polishing, in-water class survey and UWILD. Teams mobilise via Banjul (BJL).

What is underwater visibility like at Banjul?

Visibility at Banjul Port is habitually very low, and often close to nil at the turn, and the combination of Atlantic swell and rain sets the outer limits of the calendar. How the tide and sea state shape the dive plan is set out in full in the working-conditions section on this page.

Who approves hull cleaning work at Banjul?

Gambia Ports Authority issues the port-side approval at Banjul Port, with terminal approval on top where the berth requires it. We arrange both, along with any environmental clearance for in-water cleaning, so it does not fall to the agent or the master.

Which vessels call at Banjul?

Feeder container ships, General cargo ships, Banjul–Barra ferries, Fishing vessels and Small cruise ships — Banjul Port is The Gambia's only seaport, at the mouth of a tidal river, handling containers, rice, sugar and flour, cement and general cargo, fuel, fishing catch. Wetted area, coating specification and how long the vessel has been sitting are what size a hull job, so the same berth can produce very different attendances.

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

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. Divers work with the vessel afloat at the berth or the anchorage, so there is no dry dock, no diversion and no off-hire.

Do you cover other ports near Banjul?

Yes. Gambia River, Dakar and Conakry all sit within the same operating range for hull cleaning, and a single mobilisation is often sized to cover more than one vessel on the same trip. We work 80 ports on the coverage list for this line.

Get in touch