Underwater Hull Cleaning at Navlakhi Port
Full hull cleaned in the water, vessel stays on hire
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Tell us the vessel, the port and the window. Scoped reply, usually the same working day.
Cleanship Marine provides underwater hull cleaning at Navlakhi Port, Gujarat, working the tidal jetty berths and lightening anchorage. Commercial dive teams remove slime, weed and shell growth from the vertical sides, flat bottom, bilge keels, sea chests and niche areas with the vessel afloat and on hire — no dry dock, no diversion, no off-hire.
Navlakhi is a Gujarat Maritime Board port near Morbi handling coal, bauxite and salt for the ceramics and industrial belt inland. Traffic is smaller bulk tonnage and barges rather than deep-sea liner ships, and work here is usually combined with a Kandla or Mundra call in the same mobilisation.
What it gets you
- Hydrodynamic smoothness restored before fouling reaches the calcareous stage that damages coating
- Fuel and emissions penalty from drag reduced without taking the vessel off hire
- Documented condition record for the technical file and the next docking specification
- Sea chests and inlets cleared, protecting cooling water flow
Working conditions at Navlakhi
Navlakhi is a tidal port at the head of the Gulf of Kutch, so depth alongside is tide-dependent and the streams through the approach run hard. Silt keeps visibility very low and dive windows short, planned to slack water. Larger vessels are lightened at anchor before coming in, so a good proportion of the underwater work here is done off the port rather than at the jetty, and the mobilisation plan has to cover both.
- Where we work
- Tidal jetty berths · Lightening anchorage
- Vessels we see here
- Handysize bulk carriers · Barges and coastal tonnage
What we do at Navlakhi
- Pre-clean fouling survey to establish coverage, growth type and coating condition before any tool touches the hull
- Brush cart cleaning of the flat bottom and vertical sides, with brush hardness selected against your antifouling specification
- Hand cleaning of bilge keels, rudder, stern frame, thruster tunnels, anodes and the niches a cart cannot follow
- Sea chest gratings and inlet openings cleared of growth and debris to restore cooling water flow
- Diving permission cleared with Gujarat Maritime Board and the terminal before mobilisation
- Before-and-after video and stills, with a written report on coating condition and anode wastage
Planning the window at Navlakhi
The south-west monsoon governs the calendar at Navlakhi Port, roughly June to September. Swell and reduced surface visibility close most open-water work on this coast for the duration, and the weeks either side are unreliable rather than unusable. 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 tidal jetty berths and lightening anchorage, and which of those a vessel ends up at changes the dive plan more than the season does. Teams mobilise via Rajkot (RAJ) or Kandla (IXY), 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 Navlakhi
Dry bulk handling here puts cargo dust into the water around the berths and anchorage. It settles on horizontal surfaces and packs into sea chest gratings and inlet openings, so inlet and grating clearance is routinely a larger part of the job at Navlakhi than owners budget for.
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.
Standard scope of work
Included as standard on every underwater hull cleaning attendance, wherever the vessel is. Anything outside it is quoted separately and flagged before mobilisation, never added afterwards.
- Fouling survey
- A pre-clean dive establishes fouling type, coverage and severity, and confirms coating condition so the correct tooling is selected.
- Flat bottom and vertical sides
- Brush cart cleaning of large areas, removing slime, weed and shell growth to restore surface smoothness.
- Niche areas
- Hand cleaning of bilge keels, bow thruster tunnels, rudder, stern frame, anodes and other niche areas where fouling concentrates.
- Sea chests and gratings
- Sea chest gratings and inlet openings cleared of growth and debris to restore cooling water flow.
- Documentation
- Underwater video and stills before and after, with a written report covering coating condition and anode wastage.
How we deliver it at Navlakhi
- 1
Scope and vessel details
Tell us the vessel, her particulars, the coating specification and the window at Navlakhi. 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
Diving permission is obtained from Gujarat Maritime Board, along with terminal approval where the berth requires it and any environmental clearance for in-water work. This is handled by us, not left with the agent to chase.
- 3
Mobilisation to Navlakhi
Divers, compressors, brush carts and cameras mobilise via Rajkot (RAJ) or Kandla (IXY). Where a vessel is also calling at Kandla, 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 underwater 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.
Navlakhi Port at a glance
- UN/LOCODE
- INNAV
- Port type
- State Port
- State
- Gujarat
- Country
- India
- Water body
- Gulf of Kutch
- Port authority
- Gujarat Maritime Board
- Main cargoes
- Coal, Bauxite, Salt, Fertiliser, Agricultural bulk
- Crew mobilisation
- Rajkot (RAJ) / Kandla (IXY)
- Services here
- Hull Cleaning and Hold Cleaning
Frequently asked — Underwater Hull Cleaning at Navlakhi
Do you provide underwater hull cleaning at Navlakhi Port?
Yes. Cleanship Marine works Navlakhi Port (INNAV) in Gujarat, India, covering the tidal jetty berths and lightening anchorage. Teams mobilise via Rajkot (RAJ) or Kandla (IXY) with the full spread.
Can underwater hull cleaning be done while the vessel works cargo at Navlakhi?
Usually yes, but the tide sets the schedule rather than the cargo plan. The practical question is how many slack windows fall inside the vessel's stay, not what the holds are doing. The vessel stays on hire throughout, and there is no diversion and no dry dock. We scope against the conditions at Navlakhi and tell you honestly whether the window you have is enough.
Do you need a diving permit from Gujarat Maritime Board?
Yes, and we obtain it. Diving permission from Gujarat Maritime Board, terminal approval where the berth requires it, and any environmental clearance for in-water work are arranged as part of the job rather than left with the agent. The master's permit to work and the immobilisation of machinery are agreed on board before anyone enters the water.
What is underwater visibility like at Navlakhi?
Visibility at Navlakhi Port is habitually very low, and often close to nil at the turn, and the south-west monsoon 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.
Which vessels do you carry out underwater hull cleaning on at Navlakhi?
Handysize bulk carriers, Barges and coastal tonnage — the traffic at Navlakhi Port runs to coal, bauxite and salt, so those are the profiles we see most. The scope is sized to the vessel, not to a standard package.
How quickly can a team mobilise to Navlakhi?
Divers and equipment mobilise via Rajkot (RAJ) or Kandla (IXY). Give us the ETA and the window and we will confirm what is achievable rather than promise a date we cannot hold. Where the vessel also calls at Kandla or Mundra, one mobilisation is often sized to cover both.
What does underwater hull cleaning at Navlakhi cost?
It depends on the vessel's dimensions and wetted area, the fouling state found, the coating specification and the working window available at Navlakhi. We would rather scope it properly and give you a specific figure than quote a headline rate that changes once the work starts. Send the details and the window at Navlakhi and you get a scoped price, usually the same working day.
Underwater Hull Cleaning at Navlakhi Port.
Tell us the vessel, her ETA at Navlakhi and the window. You get a scope, a crew size and an honest duration — usually the same working day.