The Story of the Barge

The making of the Filtering Environmental Barge

An innovative solution popped up...

An idea born from a coastal blind spot

The Flexible Filtering Environmental Protection Barge, FEB-I, was conceived to fill a critical gap in the marine environmental protection: the lack of effective oil recovery solutions in shallow coastal waters.

Along the Danish shoreline, once oil reaches the beach, the environmental and economic cost escalates dramatically. Cleanup often involves removing up to 50 times the volume of sand and debris, or deploying teams to manually scrub rocky coastlines – both costly, slow, and environmentally damaging. Oil spills in these zones devastate marine life, coastal habitats, and the communities that rely on them.

We asked a simple question:
What will be the best response to this threat – before the oil reaches the shore?

 

A different kind of vessel

From the start, we had a clear set of ambitions. The vessel had to:

  • Operate reliably in shallow waters (down to 0.6 meters)
  • Be simple to use, requiring no special training or ongoing maintenance
  • Be easy to transport, store and deploy, anywhere in the world, using standard equipment
  • Offer low capital and operational costs
  • Leave as light an environmental footprint as possible

To achieve this, we needed to rethink vessel design. We discovered that a constant shallow draft was essential. That led us to a principle based on hydrostatic balance: by creating an open connection between the barge’s inner hold and the surrounding water – via holes in the bottom equipped with hydrophilic filters – we could maintain constant buoyancy and passively separate oil from water on-site.

From kitchen table to coastline

The early concept was tested with simple “kitchen-table experiments”. It worked. The oil floated. The water drained. The filter held. It was a modest beginning, but it proved that the core idea – passive, shallow-water, on-site filtration – was viable.

Since then, FLEX-FEB has refined the idea into a modular, patented, and production-ready barge, developed in partnership with Søby Shipyard and engineered for real-world conditions.

We’ve designed FEB-I not just to clean up oil, but to avoid secondary environmental impact, including in its end-of-life phase – which is why it’s built entirely from recyclable, seawater-resistant aluminum.

From necessity to innovation

FEB-I wasn’t created in a lab – it was sparked by necessity, shaped by experimentation, and refined by collaboration. Today, FEB-I offers coastal operators a smarter, faster, and cheaper way to respond – before the damage is done!

We’re proud to see Danish innovation protecting coastlines, and always ready to collaborate with those facing the frontlines of environmental protection.

Building the first FEB-I

In February 2022, construction of the first FEB-I began at Søby Shipyard — one of Denmark’s most innovative maritime engineering hubs.

The barge, essentially a complex 3D puzzle made entirely of seawater-resistant aluminum, was brought to life by the shipyard’s skilled welders. Within just three weeks, the structure was fully assembled – a testament to both the efficiency of the design and the craftsmanship of the team.

This first build marked a major milestone: transforming a simple but powerful concept into a working, scalable environmental solution.

Patent Secured: A New Chapter in Coastal Protection

In December 2021, FLEX-FEB filed a patent application with the Danish Patent and Trademark Office for the FEB-I and its distinctive technical features.

Following a detailed technical review, the patent was officially granted on 7 September 2022 – a formal recognition of the barge’s innovative design and functional uniqueness.

Today, several international patents are pending, reinforcing our commitment to protecting and scaling this Danish innovation.

Securing the patent is more than a legal achievement – it affirms FLEX-FEB’s role in rethinking how the maritime world responds to surface pollution and shallow-water oil spills.

Harbor Acceptance Test (HAT): Proven Performance from Day One

Following the completion of the first FEB-I unit at Søby Shipyard, the barge was launched and tested in one of the shipyard’s dry docks as part of its Harbor Acceptance Test (HAT).

The results exceeded expectations:

  • Stability and load-bearing capacity outperformed design projections.
  • All functional components – including bulkheads, deck plates, mounting rods, and skimmer integration – operated flawlessly.

The successful HAT validated the FEB-I’s core design and confirmed its readiness for operational deployment.

Sea Acceptance Test (SAT): Proven Performance in Real Conditions

In June 2022, FLEX-FEB conducted two series of comprehensive Sea Acceptance Tests (SAT) in the shallow coastal waters off the island of Ærø, Southern Denmark, in close collaboration with the Ærø Sea Rescue Association (Ærø Søredningsforening).

During testing, FEB-I was towed at various speeds in fresh winds (6–10 m/s) and light sea states (approx. 0.5 m wave height) – both with and without oil containment booms attached. The barge demonstrated excellent handling and maintained stability at speeds up to 3 knots.

To simulate an oil spill, popcorn was used as a proxy for surface contaminants. The oil booms successfully guided the floating material toward the FEB-I, where the remote-controlled belt skimmer collected it from the sea surface – all operated remotely from the towing vessel, eliminating the need for crew onboard the barge during recovery.

The test series included three different types of oil booms from two of the world’s leading suppliers of pollution control equipment. Despite differing designs, all integrated seamlessly with FEB-I, thanks to FLEX-FEB’s custom mounting rods, which allow for independent movement between barge and boom.

Key Findings from the SAT Program

    • Rapid deployment: FEB-I can be rigged and deployed in minutes.
    • Ease of use: No specialized training required — standard seamanship skills are sufficient.
    • Equipment compatibility: Fully compatible with multiple oil boom types and legacy response gear.
    • Full-cycle operation: Collects oil-mixed water, separates and filters oil on board, returns clean water to sea, and stores recovered oil for later offloading.

These trials confirmed that the FEB-I is ready for real-world deployment – reliable, efficient, and easy to integrate into existing oil spill response systems.