Hydrex Earns Belgium, Netherlands Approvals

In close communication with the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, Hydrex has developed a new method to clean propeller blades underwater. This method complies with the strict environmental regulations in Belgium and the Netherlands. As a result, the company has been given permission to clean propeller blades in both countries.

The traditional approach in the propeller maintenance industry is to polish the blades with a grinding disk which can be quite damaging to the propeller. By the very fact of using a grinding disk, a substantial amount of metal is removed from the blades. This makes polishing a source of marine pollution which is a problem in ports.

It is for this reason that a large number of ports, including those in Belgium and the Netherlands, have banned the underwater cleaning on propeller blades. Exceptions are only made for those companies that can pass the very stringent tests carried out by the concerning authorities.Approved 

Approved propeller blade cleaning is carried out by Hydrex divers using underwater equipment developed in-house by the Hydrex R&D department. This process is fast and easy and has no effect on the underwater environment.