SOLUTION / PUBLIC SOURCE RECORD
Miko Moskito removes oil from sunken ships
- Published March 22, 2023; updated September 21, 2026; estimated reading time 2 minutes. Category: Maritime / Ship design and ship’s equipment.
- The Miko Moskito is a remotely operated oil-removal machine designed to work at depths up to 3,000 metres. A remotely operated vehicle lowers it to a wreck, where electromagnets secure it to the hull. Its drill makes a tank opening, seals it and installs a valve and hose connection. An electric pump transfers oil to a recovery tank on a surface vessel; operators monitor and control the process from a laptop.
- The article says a 2005 study estimated over 8,500 wrecks in the world’s oceans held up to 22 billion litres of oil, many sunk in World War II and corroding for over 75 years. Oil recovery can be expensive and take weeks or months; divers have difficulty reaching wrecks deeper than 66 metres without costly methods. The page says over 8,500 wrecks have been classified as high-risk pollution hazards.
- The Moskito is described as rapidly deployable, cost-effective and airfreightable on short notice; all parts are manufactured in Norway. It can also penetrate offshore drilling-unit containment tanks and remove hazardous liquids. First deployed in 2014, the system was recently used, at publication, to remove 400 metric tons of oil from the Thorco Cloud in the Singapore Strait.
- Miko Marine, established in 1997, supplies marine safety, salvage and recovery systems, including underwater magnets, sea-chest covers, emergency hull-repair kits and magnetic hull patches. SDG 14 shown.
- Contact: Rana Ireifij, Business Development Manager, rai@mikomarine.com; phone reveal control collapsed. Company: MIKO MARINE AS, Vollsveien 4, 1366 Lysaker, Norway; mikomarine.com/.