Cargo Hold Cleaning at Douala Port
Holds cleaned, dried and presented to the grade your next fixture requires, with our own teams at the berth.
A failed hold inspection stops a loading operation and puts the vessel off hire while the charterer looks for someone to fix it. Marine Surveys Africa cleans cargo holds to the grade the next cargo requires, and presents them for inspection with the vessel still on schedule.
We work to the recognised cleanliness standards: shovel clean, normal clean, grain clean and hospital clean. The grade you need depends on what came out and what goes in, and getting that judgement wrong is expensive in both directions. Cleaning to hospital clean when grain clean would have passed wastes a day; presenting a grain clean hold for a cargo that needed better fails the inspection.
Our crews carry their own equipment to the berth. That matters across the ports we cover, where hiring local plant at short notice is often the constraint that decides whether a vessel sails on time.
Cargoes worked at Douala
- Containers
- Timber and logs
- Cocoa and coffee
- Cotton
- Aluminium
- General cargo
What came out of the hold and what goes in next is what decides the cleanliness grade required and the method we use.
How we work
- 01
Pre-cleaning inspection
We attend on arrival, inspect each hold, and confirm the grade achievable against the previous cargo and the time available before loading.
- 02
Residue removal
Previous cargo residues, loose rust scale and debris removed from tank tops, hoppers, frames, ladders and bilge wells.
- 03
Washing and rinsing
Fresh or sea water washing as the cargo requires, with chemical treatment where the previous cargo leaves staining or odour.
- 04
Drying and bilge preparation
Holds dried, bilge wells cleaned and tested, and bilge covers and strum boxes checked before presentation.
- 05
Presentation for inspection
Holds presented to the surveyor or the charterer's representative, with a written report and photographs covering each hold.
Cargo Hold Cleaning at Douala
Tell us the vessel, the call date and the last cargo carried. We come back within two hours with a firm quote.