The Ocean Cleanup Prepares for Series Production of Interceptor – Partners With MHE-Demag

The partnership will enable The Ocean Cleanup to work towards tackling the world’s 1000 most polluting rivers

SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 10 December
2020 – The Ocean Cleanup, the Dutch non-profit developing
advanced technologies to rid the oceans of plastic, and Konecranes, a
world-leading group of Lifting Businesses™, announced today that MHE-Demag is the chosen partner to
design, manufacture, and service The Ocean Cleanup’s Interceptor to extract
plastic from rivers before entering the ocean. This is an important step as the
non-profit organization prepares to tackle the world’s 1000 most polluting
rivers.

Deploying Interceptors
on a large scale is necessary to rapidly address the urgent problem of ocean
plastic pollution. The Ocean Cleanup is partnering with MHE-Demag, a Konecranes
company, because of their expertise and worldwide footprint. Laying the
groundwork for global scaleup, Interceptors 005 and 006 are currently being
manufactured simultaneously at MHE-Demag’s facility in Klang, Malaysia and are
expected to be completed in May 2021. Moving forward, MHE-Demag will handle
Interceptor manufacturing, installation, and maintenance; local partners will
oversee operations, and The Ocean Cleanup will continue to act as the
technology and best practices provider as well as lead business development for
upcoming Interceptor projects.

Founder and CEO of The
Ocean Cleanup, Boyan Slat remarked on this new partnership by saying, “At the
end of a very challenging year, I am happy to see series production begin for
the Interceptor. This is a necessary step for us to tackle the global flow of
plastic pollution to our oceans at scale. I believe Konecranes is well-suited
for the job and I look forward to seeing them build many more Interceptors in
the coming years. I am thankful for their commitment to clean oceans”

Karl Tilkorn, Senior
Vice President, Industrial Cranes and Products, Asia Pacific said, “Headquartered
in Singapore, for 48 years MHE-Demag has built our brand through outstanding
engineering capabilities with the best people in the industry. Our abilities to
design and manufacture engineered or customised solutions have won us many
landmark projects in the region, and we are servicing these projects until
today. We are proud to collaborate with The Ocean Cleanup on the design and
manufacturing of the Interceptor, in order to help the good cause of addressing
river pollution across the globe.”

Konecranes is renowned
for its market-leading technology and service in material handling and lifting
products. Its engineering and design expertise, along with its global service network,
will enable the company to assemble and install Interceptors around the world.
Through this global footprint, helped especially by the design and
manufacturing strengths of MHE-Demag, Konecranes can service and maintain
Interceptors throughout their lifetime.

The Ocean Cleanup’s
Interceptor was unveiled in late 2019 and there are currently three deployed in
Klang, Malaysia; Jakarta, Indonesia; and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. A
fourth Interceptor, in Vietnam, has been delayed for deployment and is expected
to be launched early in 2021. Over the last year and a half, The Ocean Cleanup
has used the insights from these pilot systems to understand and further
develop the technology for more efficient mass production. These upgrades
include changes to the conveyor, shuttle, dumpsters, and barge. Working
together with MHE-Demag, these changes have been incorporated into the 3rd
generation design, which is the blueprint for the Interceptors being
manufactured in 2020 and 2021.

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Supporting footage and
further details can be found here.

Photos, illustrations,
videos on The Ocean Cleanup can be found in the general media gallery.