Miko Marine expands into Asia

Miko Marine expands into Asia

Miko Marine AS has appointed Mr Spencer Go as managing director of its new subsidiary in Singapore which was established in May. Miko Marine Asia Pte Ltd has opened a new office in Lokyang, Singapore from where Spencer Go will be spearheading the sale of Miko products and services throughout Asia. Spencer will be supported by Indonesia-based naval architect Per Johansson who is an established member of the Miko team and is well-known in the region for his extensive and specialized knowledge of innovative marine and offshore heavy lift and transportation contracting.

Together Spencer and Per will be promoting the Miko products and services that can provide three lines of defence against oil pollution arising from shipping. The first of these is the ShipArrestor that has been developed to prevent ships without engine power grounding by halving their rate of drift. If damage subsequently occurs to a ship, Miko’s magnetic and flexible fabric patches can provide a second line of defence by providing a quick and effective seal to prevent sinking and causing pollution. Should a ship sink despite these options, the new Miko Moskito oil recovery tool represents the third line of defence which can be used to penetrate and safely remove any oil or bunker fuel held within the ship’s tanks before it has a chance to leak into the ocean.

As managing director of Miko Marine Asia Pte Ltd, Spencer Go brings to the company 18-years of technical experience gained working at the highest level in some of the region’s leading ship yards. His new role will be to apply his project management expertise to the practical application of Miko products throughout the region. This means that ship operators will now have prompt access to some unique repair and salvage technologies that are capable of providing significant savings in both time and costs.

“In addition to providing a friendly and responsive emergency support service, I will also be busy establishing distribution networks in Asia and aggressively promoting Miko’s brand in the region,” said Spencer. His technical background is reinforced by his marketing expertise and he will invest much time in explaining the practicalities of Miko’s Three Defences in detail.

The Three Lines of Defence

As the first line of defence, the ShipArrestor is a type of large sea anchor that can be deployed by a helicopter onto a ship drifting without power or crew. While halving the rate at which the tanker or other vessel is drifting ashore, ShipArrestor establishes a tow-line and creates time for it to be reached by a rescue tug before the disastrous consequences of a grounding can arise.

Miko patches are now widely used to prevent the ingress of water into a vessel in an emergency. The company’s magnetic patches are generally used for smaller and less complicated sealing emergencies while the non-magnetic Kevlar-reinforced fabric patches are used for closing-off larger and more complex instances of hull damage. If required, either type of patch can be manufactured and supplied in any size up to 50-metres x 10-metres. This makes them a fast and reliable means of sealing hull damage that can be used as a quicker and more practical alternative to welding when re-floating a damaged vessel. The patches can also be used to seal sunken vessels to prevent the escape of trapped oil that might be released if the wreck should move at some time in the future.

The Moskito is Miko’s third line of defence and is the newest product from the company’s design centre. It is a tool that can cut a hole in the fuel or cargo tank of a sunken ship and attach a hose so that it can be emptied without the escape of any oil or other pollutants. It can be deployed by divers or by an ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) to any ocean depth where, once in position outside the tank, its powerful magnetic feet are planted against the steel hull. A 75 mm (3-inch) diameter electrically powered tank cutter drill pierces the steel tank walls which may be up to 40 mm (1.5-inches) thick. A patented spring latch coupling immediately connects and locks a hose to the tank automatically without allowing any of its contents to escape. A subsea pump can then be activated to extract the oil at the rate of up to 12 cubic metres per hour.

Miko Marine was established in Oslo, Norway, in 1997 and is now known as a design hot-shop specialising in the invention and manufacture of products aimed at preventing ocean pollution. Staffed by a small team of highly qualified designers the company is known for its lateral thinking and its ability to find original solutions to some of the marine industry’s most pressing problems.