Sources : https://oceannews.com/featured-stories/turning-the-tide-on-biofouling/

For the global shipping industry, maintaining a clean vessel hull is a critical yet challenging operational requirement. The natural accumulation of marine life, known as biofouling, creates significant hydrodynamic drag, forcing ships to burn more fuel to maintain speed. This directly leads to increased operational costs and a substantial increase in CO₂ emissions, placing vessel operators under avoidable financial and regulatory pressure. Compounding this issue, traditional in-water cleaning methods often scrape invasive species and contaminants directly into the sea, violating increasingly strict environmental laws and risking hefty fines or denial of port entry. Operators are therefore caught in a difficult position: they must manage the economic burden of biofouling without causing ecological damage or incurring costly downtime associated with conventional cleaning. To address these conflicting demands, a new generation of solutions is required, one that can restore vessel efficiency without compromising environmental integrity or operational schedules. Enter ECOsubsea, a company squarely targeting this industry-wide pain point with its innovative, eco-friendly hull cleaning system. 

ECOsubsea is a Norwegian company developing and delivering eco-friendly, underwater hull cleaning and biofouling management solutions for the shipping industry. Their services aim to reduce fuel consumption, CO₂ emissions, and environmental harm caused by biofouling, while ensuring compliance with strict environmental standards. They use closed loop robotic cleaning technologies that both remove and capture biofouling, protecting marine biodiversity and reducing operational costs.

ECOsubsea was founded in 2008 by Norwegian brothers Tor M. Østervold and Klaus Østervold with the mission to transform the way the shipping industry handles biofouling. Inspired by their earlier work in aquaculture net cleaning, they saw an opportunity to adapt similar sustainable cleaning principles to ship hulls, which often accumulate marine growth that increases drag, fuel consumption, and emissions. Recognizing the environmental and economic costs of traditional cleaning methods, they developed a robotic, closed loop cleaning system that not only removes biofouling but also safely captures it, preventing the spread of invasive species and protecting marine ecosystems. After years of development and pilot testing, ECOsubsea launched its first approved cleaning station in 2012 and began operating commercially in the Port of Southampton in 2014. Since then, the company has grown into an international player, building a reputation for combining environmental responsibility with cost efficient performance improvements for the global shipping industry.

Tor M. Østervold, who serves as the company’s CEO, has a background in nautical science and international shipping and has long been an advocate for reducing emissions through cleaner and more efficient vessel operations. His leadership has been instrumental in guiding ECOsubsea’s vision and global expansion. His brother, Klaus Østervold, acts as the Chief Technical Officer and is responsible for developing and refining the company’s innovative robotic systems and closed loop cleaning technologies.

At the core of their solution is a remotely operated underwater robot that gently removes biofouling such as algae, barnacles, and mussels from a ship’s hull without damaging the protective coating. Unlike traditional methods that release debris back into the sea, ECOsubsea’s system captures all the removed material in a closed loop process, ensuring that harmful organisms, microplastics, and invasive species are safely contained and disposed of responsibly. Beyond hull cleaning, the company also provides inspection services, niche area maintenance, and propeller management, allowing ship operators to keep vessels hydrodynamically efficient and compliant with international environmental regulations. One of their latest innovations, the “Pink Panther” robot, is designed for deployment via adapted tugboats, enabling ships to be cleaned even during bunkering at anchor, thereby reducing downtime and increasing operational flexibility. By integrating sustainability with efficiency, ECOsubsea’s products help shipping companies cut fuel costs, improve performance, and significantly reduce CO₂ emissions, making them a crucial partner in the industry’s transition toward greener operations.

In October 2023, ECOsubsea raised USD 12 million (≈ €11.38 million) in a Series B financing round. This round was led by the Blue Ocean Fund, which is managed by SWEN Capital Partners, a sustainable investment firm. Other investors include Innovation Norge (Innovation Norway), Jakob Hatteland Group Management, TRK Group, BI Norwegian (possibly the Norwegian Business School), among others. Additionally, ECOsubsea secured a Green Growth Loan from Innovation Norway (a Norwegian government backed funding agency) of NOK 69 million (≈ USD 6.2 million) in early 2025 to build out more next generation robots and expand operations especially in Singapore. Taken together, these funding rounds bring the company’s total recent capital raised to around USD 18.2 million, reflecting strong investor confidence in ECOsubsea’s mission to deliver both environmental and economic benefits to the shipping industry.

Case Study

Launching & Using the “Pink Panther” Robot in Singapore

• ECOsubsea deployed its next generation robot, known as the “Pink Panther,” in Singapore, including during vessel bunkering operations (i.e. while the ship is anchored and taking on fuel) via a specially adapted tug vessel. This operational mode helps reduce delays and allows cleaning without the ship needing to go to port or stay longer. 
• With this deployment, ECO subsea estimated that by scaling up these robots, there is the potential to reduce CO₂ emissions globally by 100 million tons per year. For 2025 alone, they aim to reduce 2 million tons of CO₂. 

This case illustrates how ECOsubsea’s technology can make mechanical, economic, and environmental sense: cleaner hulls lead to less drag → reduced fuel use → lower costs and emissions; plus, the captured biofouling and debris avoid ecological harm.

Final thoughts

ECOsubsea stands out as a compelling example of how cleantech innovation can address both ecological concerns and business imperatives in the shipping industry. From its founding in 2008 by the Østervold brothers, the company has methodically developed its technology into a market ready solution that is compliant with strong environmental regulations, and that also delivers measurable fuel and CO₂ savings. Recent funding rounds and government backed loans indicate confidence from both private and public investors in their approach. The deployment of robots like the Pink Panther, and the closed loop capture of biofouling, show the potential for meaningful impact cutting emissions, preventing environmental damage, and helping shipping companies operate more efficiently.

If the company scales as planned, more robots, more global ports, more clients, the cumulative benefits could be immense: both in terms of environmental sustainability (lower emissions, less pollution) and economic savings for ship owners. Challenges remain (e.g. deploying fleet globally, regulatory acceptance in all jurisdictions, competition, operational logistics), but as things stand, ECOsubsea is well positioned in the growing ESG market for shipping and marine services.

References

ECOsubsea. (n.d.). Our story.  https://www.ecosubsea.com/our-story

ECOsubsea. (n.d.). Our HQ team.  https://www.ecosubsea.com/our-hq-team

Marinelink. (2025, January 22). ECOsubsea scoops $6M loan to grow hull-cleaning robot fleet. Retrieved from https://www.marinelink.com/news/ecosubsea-scoops-m-loan-grow-hullcleaning-522718

Maritime Professional. (2023, October 16). ECOsubsea raises $12M for sustainable hull cleaning. Retrieved from https://www.maritimeprofessional.com/news/ecosubsea-raises-388471

Silicon Canals. (2023, October 16). Norwegian startup ECOsubsea bags €11.38M to clean ship hulls sustainably. Retrieved from https://siliconcanals.com/ecosubsea-bag-11-38m

The Digital Ship. (2025, January 24). Robotic hull cleaning company ECOsubsea takes NOK 69m Green Growth Loan from Innovation Norway. Retrieved from https://thedigitalship.com/news/electronics-navigation/robotic-hull-cleaning-company-ecosubsea-takes-nok-69m-green-growth-loan-from-innovation-norway

PitchBook. (n.d.). ECOsubsea company profile.  https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/462309-31

Contributor : Dyah Ayuning Tyas

Reviewer : Imam Buchari, David Ratner