West Bengal · INHAL

Tank Cleaning at Haldia Port

Grade changes, sludge removal and shore tanks 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, bunker and shore tanks at Haldia Port (INHAL), West Bengal — grade changes on product and chemical tankers, sludge demucking, terminal storage tanks and offshore support vessel turnarounds. Gas-freeing, enclosed-space entry certification and licensed slop disposal are part of the scope, not extras.

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. Approval runs through Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port, Kolkata and the terminal operator, and licensed slop reception is booked before the tanks are opened — at most ports on this list that booking, not the cleaning, is what sets the date.

Where we work: Dock complex berths · Oil jetties · River anchorage
Vessels we see here: Product and chemical tankers · Bulk carriers · Feeder container ships

Tank Cleaning scopes at Haldia

4 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. Whether the work runs alongside, at anchorage or on passage depends on the terminal and the grade, so the plan is built against the actual call. Where a terminal will not permit tank work at the berth, we say so at quoting stage rather than after mobilisation.

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

Haldia serves the eastern petrochemical belt, so the grades are varied and the cleaning specification changes with almost every voyage. Slop reception and disposal are arranged through the dock complex ahead of arrival.

Chemical and petrochemical grades move through here, so the cleaning specification changes with almost every voyage and is set by the next charterer's acceptance criteria. The wash plan is built from the prior-cargo and next-cargo pair, not from a standard procedure.

How we deliver it at Haldia

1
Scope and vessel details
Tell us the vessel, her particulars, the prior and next grade 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, slops and certification
Terminal and port approval for tank work is obtained from Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port, Kolkata and the terminal operator, licensed slop and sludge reception is booked, and marine chemist attendance is arranged where the grade change requires it. At Haldia the disposal route is the item that most often sets the schedule, so it is fixed first.
3
Mobilisation to Haldia
Crews, pumps, machines and chemicals mobilise via Kolkata (CCU). Where a vessel is also calling at Kolkata, one mobilisation is normally sized to cover both.
4
Gas-freeing, entry and cleaning
Atmosphere testing, gas-freeing and enclosed-space entry certification come before any entry, and are repeated after every break. Standby cover and atmosphere monitoring run continuously while anyone is inside, and progress is reported tank by tank.
5
Report and handover
A completion report covering tank cleaning is issued with before-and-after imagery, tank by tank 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 tank cleaning at Haldia Port?

Yes. We cover the full tank cleaning scope at Haldia Port (INHAL), West Bengal — tanker tank cleaning — dpp & cpp, tank demucking, shore tank cleaning and offshore vessel tank 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 tank 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. Tank work runs alongside where the terminal permits it, and otherwise at anchorage or on the passage out — none of which takes the vessel off hire.

Do you cover other ports near Haldia?

Yes. Paradip and Dhamra all sit within the same operating range for tank cleaning, and a single mobilisation is often sized to cover more than one vessel on the same trip. We work 24 ports on the coverage list for this line.

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