Maersk Supply Service will support The Ocean Cleanup, an initiative to advance technology to remove plastic from the world's oceans; it will install its first cleanup system in the north of the Pacific Ocean.
The Ocean Cleanup, a Dutch nonprofit will, in partnership with Maersk Supply Service, install an offshore cleaning system in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) 1,200 nm offshore San Francisco in Q3 or Q4 of this year.
AHTS Maersk Launcher will depart on September 8 to put the system through sea trials over a two-week period 250 nm offshore, following which it will deploy the system in the GPGP.
The Ocean Cleanup aims to install at least 60 floating screens with capacity to remove 50% of the GPGP's 80,000 tonnes of plastic in five years' time. The system acts like an artificial coastline that uses the ocean's own currents to concentrate the plastic for removal.
The vessel's current charterer DeepGreen, a Canadian deepwater metals recovery firm, has released it from its charter in order to install the cleanup system and alongside AP Moller-Maersk is covering the charter cost for the work.
Maersk Supply Service chief executive Steen S Karstensen said: "Large towing operations have been a part of Maersk Supply Service's work-scope for decades. It is rewarding to see that our marine capabilities can be utilised within new segments, and to support solving such an important environmental issue.
"Part of Maersk Supply Service's strategy is to diversify its business and use its technical capabilities in new areas outside traditional oil and gas," he added. "This collaboration with The Ocean Cleanup is a confirmation that we are taking important steps in this direction."
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