经济学人下载:船只防污技术(2)

Bacterial biofilms, as these layers are known technically, are used as anchorages by the larvae of so-called "hard growth" organisms,
这些层在技术上被称为生物被膜，被所谓“硬生长”生物体的幼虫用作锚固，

such as barnacles and molluscs, and by the spores of bailing seaweeds.
这些生物体包括藤壶和软体动物，以及海草的孢子。

An absence of biofilms means fouling will never get going in the first place.
没有生物膜意味着从一开始就不会产生污垢。

Jotun claims that regular pre-emptive cleaning in this way of a typical bulk carrier will result in a continuous reduction in that ship's fuel consumption of 12-13%,
佐敦漆称，对一艘典型的散货船定期采用这种先发制人的清洁方式，将使该船的燃料消耗持续减少12-13%，

as opposed to the episodic reductions brought about by current cleaning regimes. This translates into a saving of 4,000 tonnes of oil a year,
而当前的清洁制度带来的是间歇性的减少。这样每年则可节省4000公吨石油，

and a concomitant reduction of around $800,000 in fuel bills.
同时还能减少大约80万美元的燃料费用。

A bonus of all this effort is that an unfouled ship has little risk of carrying unwanted passengers
所有这些努力的一个好处是，一艘无污染船只没有携带不必要乘客的风险，

in the form of alien animal species that might make a nuisance of themselves if they were to become established far from home.
这些外来动物物种，如果在远离家乡的地方定居了下来，可能会成为麻烦。

Asian paddle crabs, North Pacific seastars, Asian green mussels and European fan worms
亚洲桨蟹、北太平洋海星、亚洲绿贻贝以及欧洲扇虫

are four common hull-fouling animals that can turn into pests if introduced into the wrong settings.
是四种常见的船体污染动物，如果被引入不当环境中，它们可能会变成害虫。

That can easily happen with conventional cleaning-by-diving, because this leaves a mass of debris floating in the water
常规的潜水员清洁很容易造成这些问题，因为常规方式使得大量的残体漂浮在水面和海床上，

and on the seabed which can harbour such undocumented migrants.
而这些海床可以容纳这些非法移民。

Many ports have therefore introduced restrictions on what sorts of hull cleaning can be carried out in their waters.
因此，很多港口对在其水域可进行的船体清洁方式进行了限制。

Widespread adoption of the International Maritime Organisation's biofouling guidelines,
国际海事组织的生物淤积指导方针

which require an assessment of the risks associated with any cleaning carried out while afloat,
要求对在海上进行的任何清洁所涉及的风险进行评估，

is likely to tighten things up still further, so new cleaning methods are desirable.
广泛采用这一指导方针可能使清洁变得更加严格，所以新的清洁方式是可取的。

The HullSkater approach is not perfect. Regular cleaning by robot could, the makers admit,
HullSkater的方法并不完美。制造者承认，机器人定期清理可能

wear away some types of anti-fouling coating, thus limiting the process's efficacy.
磨损一些类型的防污涂层，因此会限制清洁的功效。

Jotun has, however, developed a special, hard-wearing coating, which it plans to sell in conjunction with the robot, to minimise this problem.
但佐敦漆开发了一款特殊的耐磨涂层，其计划和机器人捆绑销售，以最大限度地减少这一问题。

HullSkater is now being tested in various parts of the world (for rates of fouling depend on local conditions, such as sea temperatures),
现在HullSkater正在接受世界各国的检测（因为污垢率取决于当地的环境，如海洋温度），

and the plan--at least at the moment--is to roll it out commercially this summer.
并且该计划——至少目前——将在今年夏天进行商业推广。

If that is a success, according to Hans Peter Havdal, Semcon's general manager,
根据Semcon的总经理Hans Peter Havdal，如果取得成功，

the next stage will be to develop a family of such robots, designed for ships of different sizes and types.
那么下一阶段将是为不同尺寸和类型的船只研发一系列这样的机器人。

Ideally, these will have higher levels of autonomy than HullSkater.
理想情况下，这些机器人将会比HullSkater拥有更高的自主权。

They may even be able to learn the shape of the hull they have been designated to keep spick and span, and thus get on with the job unsupervised.
它们甚至还能够学习它们被指定保持整洁的船体的形状，这样就能够在没有监管的情况下继续工作。