InnerHull, the cargo hold cleaning company built on Bevaldia’s established maritime services network, has expanded its operations from five to thirteen markets worldwide. The company’s original coverage, centred on Piraeus in Greece, Istanbul in Turkey, Singapore, Santos in Brazil and Khorfakkan (AEKLF) in the United Arab Emirates, now also extends to Argentina, Estonia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Slovenia, the United States and Uruguay. The expansion gives dry bulk shipowners, ship management companies and charterers a single point of contact for grain standard hold cleaning across a considerably wider trading footprint.
Cargo hold cleaning ranks among the most operationally sensitive services in dry bulk shipping. A failed hold inspection at load port can trigger hours or days of costly delay, an off-hire dispute with charterers, or a rejected cargo. Fleet technical managers running vessels across several regions have traditionally had to vet and coordinate a different cargo hold cleaning company at every port, each working to its own crew, methods and paperwork. InnerHull says it was created to close that gap, and that the expansion now brings a single, consistent standard to a much larger share of a typical dry bulk fleet’s trading pattern.
“Operators do not lose time and money because cargo hold cleaning is hard. They lose it because it is inconsistent,” said a company spokesperson for InnerHull. “A vessel that gets a grain standard clean in Piraeus should get the same clean in Singapore, Santos, Khorfakkan or any of our newest markets, with the same procedure and report format every time. That consistency is what InnerHull delivers, and now it reaches thirteen countries instead of five.”
Thirteen markets, one standard
InnerHull’s cargo hold cleaning services rely on directly authorised local teams rather than anonymous subcontractors. Every crew follows InnerHull’s own procedures and issues an InnerHull Confirmation of Work, so fleet technical managers, chartering managers and port agents receive the same report format regardless of which market the vessel calls at. The five original markets remain the backbone of the network: Greece, based in Piraeus, covering anchorage and alongside operations for bulk carriers trading through the Eastern Mediterranean; Turkey, serving Istanbul and the wider Turkish coast for vessels moving between the Black Sea and Mediterranean grain and dry bulk trades; Singapore, covering Jurong, PSA berths and the Singapore anchorage in line with MPA requirements; Brazil, based at Santos, focused on pre-loading hold preparation for the grain export trade, including coal and petcoke to grain transitions; and Khorfakkan Anchorage (AEKLF) in the UAE, providing offshore and anchorage cleaning for vessels serving the Gulf region.
The company now also operates dedicated coverage in Argentina and Uruguay, extending into the South American grain export trade; in India, Indonesia and Malaysia, across South and Southeast Asia’s dry bulk and grain markets; and in Estonia, Slovenia and the United States, bringing grain standard hold cleaning to Baltic, Adriatic and North American operators for the first time. The thirteen markets are supported by seventeen dedicated pages on innerhull.com, each carrying its own local content and quote request path.
At the centre of InnerHull’s offering, in every market, is grain standard hold cleaning, the strictest routine cleanliness level in the dry bulk trade. Grain standard requires holds to be washed, rinsed and fully dried, free of loose rust scale, paint flakes and residue from any previous cargo, odourless and gas-free, and free of any insect, rodent or bird evidence, a strict bar given grain’s status as a foodstuff cargo. Surveyors commonly test surface cleanliness with a light-coloured glove run across bulkheads, frames and the tank top, and any discolouration is grounds for rejection regardless of how clean a hold looks by eye. Confusing grain standard with lighter terms such as shovel clean or swept clean is a common source of disputes at load port, which is why InnerHull confirms scope and charter party requirements before the vessel arrives, rather than after the surveyor is on deck.
Backed by Bevaldia’s operational standard
InnerHull is operated by Bevaldia, a maritime services company active in 39 countries, IACS-approved and ISO certified. That backing means InnerHull inherits an established operational and quality framework rather than building one from scratch in each new market, giving fleet technical managers on approved supplier lists a level of documentation and accountability that independent regional cleaning contractors can struggle to match.
The expansion targets the three groups who decide which cargo hold cleaning services a vessel uses: fleet technical managers, who approve contractors for approved supplier lists and weigh documentation as heavily as price; chartering managers and dry bulk operators, who need confirmation that a hold will pass inspection and cannot absorb off-hire risk; and port agents and ship’s masters, who need a company able to mobilise quickly within a short port window and hand over paperwork the superintendent will recognise.
“Speed of response is a product feature in this market,” the spokesperson added. “A vessel calling with a short window cannot wait, in Piraeus or in any of our newest markets. Our local teams are set up to attend quickly, and every job comes back in the same Confirmation of Work format.”
InnerHull is registered as a cargo hold cleaning company on ShipServ and is expanding its presence across maritime supplier directories in all thirteen of its markets. Ship management companies, dry bulk operators and port agents can request a cargo hold cleaning quote through innerhull.com, where vessel details can be submitted for a fast response; the company aims to reply within 24 hours. It also plans to expand its published guidance on grain standard hold cleaning and related cleanliness standards over the coming months, alongside case studies from completed jobs across its network.
