paints & coatings
Royal Caribbean’s Legend of the Seas has been coated with both Intersleek 1100SR and Intercept 8000LPP
By Paul Bartlett, Contributing Editor
New pateNted techNologies underpin new hull coatings from ip
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wo new hull coatings launched by International Paint (IP) could herald another quantum leap in hull paint performance. Each based on separate and patented technologies, Intersleek 1100SR and Intercept 8000LPP are the products of years of concentrated R&D by IP scientists and could lead to a boost in market share for the Akzo Nobel coatings subsidiary. The new products come at a critical time for many ship owners who face a range of formidable challenges including bunker prices close to all-time highs, and new requirements on improved ship energy efficiency and emissions. And all this against a backdrop of some of shipping’s weakest markets in decades. Intersleek 1100SR is the latest in IP’s foul release family of premium products which now coat the hulls of some 1,600 vessels in the world fleet. It joins Intersleek 900, a fluoropolymer coating and Intersleek 700, a silicon-based “non stick” hull paint. The significance of IP’s latest foul release product are the letters “SR” in its name. Standing for “slime release”, the new coating has been formulated specifically to prevent the settlement and adhesion of slime, a group term for many thousands of bacteria and diatoms
to which every surface submerged in sea water is potentially attractive—including ships’ hulls. Slime starts to grow as soon as a vessel enters the water and, depending on its location, speed, operating profile and the time of year, can significantly raise hull resistance and therefore fuel consumption and emissions. By growing its own slime in a specially developed “slime farm” at its UK laboratories near Newcastle, IP has been able to demonstrate that some vessels are more susceptible than others. Much depends on the variables above but IP believes it now has leading insight into slime formation, settlement, release and therefore its impact on operating efficiency. The polymer base of the new coating has been slightly adapted from that of Intersleek 900 to incorporate more hydrophilic (water-loving) properties. This helps to prevent the settlement and adhesion of slime. The new coating has already been tried and tested on more than 50 vessels, including 13 container ships, 12 LNG carriers, seven tankers and a number of cruise ships. Many of the vessels have their own performance monitoring systems on board and feedback has been positive. April 2013 MARINE LOG 61