16 August 2018

Maersk Supply Service will in the coming months provide marine support to The Ocean Cleanup, the Dutch non-profit that is developing advanced technologies to rid the oceans from plastic, and install their first cleanup system in the North Pacific. This moment will mark the start of the World’s first large-scale initiative for collection of floating ocean-plastic debris.

Global plastic production has risen steadily since the 1950’s with, as an unintended result, an estimated of over 5 trillion pieces of plastic waste now littering all major ocean basins. The Ocean Cleanup, is a globally recognised front-runner addressing the problem of plastic pollution, having developed a solution in the form of long floating screens to collect plastic debris for recycling.

This fall the first offshore cleaning system, in a partnership between The Ocean Cleanup and Maersk Supply Services, will be installed in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP), located 1200 nautical miles off the coast of San Francisco. The system will be deployed by Maersk Supply Service’s AHTS vessel Maersk Launcher.

“We are truly proud to be supporting the installation of The Ocean Cleanup’s first system. 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,” said Steen S. Karstensen, CEO of Maersk Supply Service.

Departing on September 8, 2018, the system will be delivered 250 nautical miles offshore for a 2-week sea trial before towage to the final deployment location at the GPGP. Maersk Supply Service will in addition to the towing and installation, be monitoring The Ocean Cleanup’s System 001. Total duration of the campaign is expected to be 60 days.

“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. With recently announced other new partnerships in innovative fields with DeepGreen and with Vestas Wind Systems , this collaboration with The Ocean Cleanup is a confirmation we are taking important steps in this direction,” said Steen S. Karstensen.

Maersk Launcher is currently on charter by DeepGreen, who has released it so that Maersk Supply Service can perform the operation for The Ocean Cleanup. The charter cost of providing the installation vessel for deployment of the first cleanup system is shared between A.P. Moller – Maersk and DeepGreen. The total contribution to The Ocean Cleanup project is around USD 2m in vessel services and equipment which also includes providing transportation of equipment needed for the installation of Cleanup System 001, from the UK and Denmark to San Francisco, as well as providing the containers that will be used for the return to land of the collected plastic.

“Maersk contributes to the protection of the ocean environment through enhancing the sustainability of all our activities both at sea and on land. In addition to always taking great care that our operations do not pollute the oceans with plastic, we are also very pleased to take part in the world’s first major collection of plastics from the ocean. As a responsible maritime operator, we are committed to ensuring that the oceans can remain a healthy environment for generations to come,” says Claus V. Hemmingsen, Vice CEO of A.P. Moller – Maersk and CEO of the Energy division.

The Ocean Cleanup’s long-term ambition is to install a fleet of at least 60 floating screens in order to remove 50% of the 80,000 tonnes of plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch every 5 years.

Learn more about The Ocean Cleanup technology here: https://youtu.be/O1EAeNdTFHU

About Maersk Supply Service

Maersk Supply Service provides marine services and integrated solutions to the energy sector worldwide. Maersk Supply Service is the market leader in deep-water services such as anchor handling in ultra-deep water, mooring installations, rig moves and transport of equipment to drilling rigs and production units.

Maersk Supply Service employs an international staff of around 1100 offshore and 200 onshore people. Headquartered in Lyngby, Denmark, Maersk Supply Service is represented globally with offices in Aberdeen, Houston, St. John’s, Rio de Janeiro, Accra, Lagos, Luanda, Singapore and Perth.

Maersk Supply Service is a part of the stand-alone Energy division of A.P. Møller – Mærsk A/S. A.P. Møller – Maersk A/S employs roughly 88,000 employees across operations in 130 countries.

For more information about Maersk Supply Service, please visit the website at www.maersksupplyservice.com

About The Ocean Cleanup

The Ocean Cleanup develops advanced technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic.

Founded in 2013 by Boyan Slat (24), The Ocean Cleanup now employs approximately 80 engineers and researchers. The foundation is headquartered in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Instead of going after plastic debris with vessels and nets – which would take many thousands of years and billions of dollars to complete – The Ocean Cleanup is designing a fleet of extremely long floating screens that will remain in the water to act like an artificial coastline, enabling the ocean to concentrate the plastic using its own currents. Once fully operational, this fleet of passive collection systems is expected to remove 50% of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in 5 years’ time.

After years of conducting reconnaissance expeditions, scale model tests and the deployment of prototypes on the North Sea, the assembly of the first full-scale cleanup system is near completion. This first system is set to be deployed in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch from San Franscisco Bay in September 2018. It is expected that the first shipment of debris collected by this system will be returned to land for recycling before the end of the year.

About DeepGreen

DeepGreen is a Canadian company working toward recovering essential metals from the surface of the deep ocean floor. These metals — cobalt, copper, nickel and manganese — are critical in supplying the world’s need for cleaner technologies that power economic growth and a low-carbon future. With its patented zero-waste processing technology, DeepGreen is on track to become a leading producer of base and strategic metals obtained from vast high-grade seafloor polymetallic nodule deposits containing nickel, manganese, copper and cobalt. In cooperation with Maersk, DeepGreen is advancing its NORI Project, which will supply the world with metals that do not require deforestation, social disoclation, explosives, drilling and many of the other negative results from removing metals on land.

For more information about DeepGreen Metals Inc, please visit the website at www.deep.green

Media Contacts (Maersk Supply Service)

Charlotte Holst Frahm

Mobile: +45 2147 6259

Email: Charlotte.Holst@maersksupplyservice.com

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