By Hauwa Ali
SeaCleaners, an NGO dedicated to finding solutions to protect the oceans from
plastic pollution, has created a unique concept vessel ‘the Manta’ to clean up the
oceans which it hopes to launch at the end of 2025.
This, according to the NGO in an interview, is part of its mission of raising
awareness and promoting prevention, while also sharing scientific knowledge,
and developing innovative solutions for waste collection and repurposing as they
plan to equip the vessel with an onboard factory including a waste-to-energy
conversion unit.
The SeaCleaners say, ‘the Manta’ will be a 183-foot-long sailboat with a beam of
85 feet and masts rising 200 feet and will be the first concentrated ecology and
technology factory ship capable of collecting and processing floating ocean waste
before it gets fragmented, starts to drift, and penetrates the marine ecosystem.
“Marine plastic pollution is a global ecological disaster which requires urgent
action now both on land and at sea. We are grateful that the Manta was awarded
the AiP from Bureau Veritas Marine & Offshore. This represents a major
milestone for us and shows the solidity of our approach to tackle plastic
pollution,” said Yvan Bourgnon, President & Founder, of The SeaCleaners.
More than 45,000 hours of study and development have gone into developing the
concept for the unique vessel over the past four years.
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The NGO reports that more than 60 engineers, technicians, and researchers,
along with five research laboratories and 20 companies have contributed to the
development of the design concept.
Supporting the mission of collecting and processing the plastics from the water,
the NGO say, they plan for ‘the Manta’ to serve as a state-of-the-art scientific
laboratory for the observation, analysis, and understanding of ocean plastic
pollution and as an educational platform open to the public.
The plan also calls for the Manta to be powered by a combination of renewable
energy technologies to minimize its carbon footprint and achieve 50 to 75 percent
energy autonomy.
In the next development phase of the Manta, The SeaCleaners plan to launch the
call for tenders to shipyards. Planning to set sail in just over three years, the
Manta would be deployed in areas of high marine litter concentration along the
coastal waters of the most affected countries and near the estuaries of major
rivers collecting and repurposing floating plastic waste.
