COATINGS

Owners and operators have not only had problems obtaining crews for their ships, but also getting spaces in shipyards to carry out maintenance work, including painting and hull repairs

ROOM FOR

MANOEUVRE

Coatings suppliers such as Nippon Paint Marine have been highlighting the the difficulties of operating in an environment where freight rates are high, workforce is limited and covid-19 restrictions are affecting capacity in shipyards, particularly in Southeast Asia.

According to Nippon Paint Marine, the region’s ship repair capacity could be more than 25% down on pre-pandemic levels. “In 2019, a total of 516 vessels totalling 28m dwt drydocked at Singapore shipyards for paint jobs, but numbers dwindled to 296 ships in 2020 and 316 the following year as the world responded to the covid-19 pandemic. Similar shortfalls are forecast at repair yards across Southeast Asia,” says Bill Phua, managing director, Nippon Paint Marine (Singapore).

“We expect the number of vessels drydocking in the Asia Pacific region for a new coating to be 680-800, slightly up on the previous two years but still only 6070% of the number of vessels that docked in 2019, which had a combined tonnage approaching 76m dwt.”

Having returned from visits to yards in Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore and the Middle East, Phua noted that strict virus safety measures and travel restrictions in place to deal with the omicron variant are impacting the availability of workers to carry out the work.

“There’s still this limitation in place, restricting some yard’s achieving full capacity,” he says.

High freight rates are also expected to continue to affect repair volumes, as shipowners postpone scheduled drydockings to keep vessels trading.

“It does create planning problems, especially at Chinese repair yards where there are very strict quarantine protocols in place. Drydockings are taking considerably longer. We are seeing ships diverted to Vietnam, Dubai,” he explains.

The increase in the number of vessels applying more fuel-efficient hull coatings, however, is expected to prove a boon for repair yards and coatings companies over coming months.

According to Phua, COP26’s Clydebank Declaration and the push to create “green shipping lanes” will result in a greater focus on hull coating technologies, given the environmental impact of biofouling, algae and barnacles on fuel consumption, especially when hulls are idle or slow steaming due to high port congestion.

“This is now a key consideration for operators specifying a hull coating. An idling ship is more attractive to marine life, so an antifouling that minimises this risk offers the operator a real and measurable commercial advantage,” he says.

Fouling results in speed loss, increased power demand, more fuel, increased costs and an increase in already high CO2 emissions. It also perpetuates the spread of invasive aquatic species to new environments, further affecting biodiversity and the marine ecosystem.

The enforcement of ever-stricter rules will require ship operators to comply and up the ante in terms of the technology adopted.

“An idling ship is more attractive to marine life, so an antifouling that minimises this risk offers the operator a real and measurable commercial advantage”

COSCO CONTRACT

COSCO Shipping says it will coat its fleet of VLCCs with Nippon Paint Marine’s new antifouling system FASTAR® once initial applications have been evaluated.

The hulls of the passenger ferry COSCO Star and the 56,000dwt bulk carrier Xin Liu Lin Hai will each be coated with the antifouling at drydockings scheduled later this year.

The shipowner selected the novel nano resin containing paint – introduced to the market early last year – to help vessels meet the Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index (EEXI) requirements. The amendment to MARPOL Annex VI, which requires all vessels above 400gt to measure their energy efficiency, enters into force in January 2023.

Jun Ye, M & R sales director, Nippon Paint Marine (China), says: “COSCO Shipping has a long history of applying Nippon Paint Marine antifouling to the hulls of its vessels as a way of improving propulsion efficiency and reducing emissions. Once the shipowner has verified the precise, predictable performance of FASTAR on these two vessels, more vessels are expected to take advantage of this revolutionary coating system.”

COSCO Shipping says: “We were keen to evaluate and assess the feasibility of Nippon Paint’s next generation antifouling for possible VLCC application. The coating’s potential to reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions by up to 8% is attractive and seen as a viable way towards meeting EEXI requirements. We also anticipate reduced paint volumes and quick drying time will result in cost savings.”

“With the current high freight rates, shipowners want to keep their vessels trading for as long as possible. FASTAR antifouling not only provides next level performance but improves drydock efficiency, reducing significantly the time required in drydock for paint work,” says Jun Ye.

“As there is not enough capacity to meet current demand, yards are limiting the number of days for each drydocking as a way of increasing the number of projects they can take on.

“Drydock locations are no longer set in stone due to the delays at some Chinese yards, especially in Zhoushan and Ningbo. Rather than wait for a slot shipowner are moving their ships elsewhere. It’s a real headache for coatings suppliers.”

FASTAR is a self-polishing antifouling paint that incorporates a nano-domain resin structure designed to minimise the effect that seawater temperatures, vessel speeds and other external factors have on coating performance.

CARBON INTENSITY DROP

A Jotun study released last year and based on European Union Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) data has revealed vessels using Jotun Hull Performance Solutions reported a 20% lower carbon intensity in operations.

Based on the latest carbon emissions MRV data published by the EU, cargo vessels using Jotun’s Hull Performance Solutions (HPS) reported a 20% lower carbon intensity on average in operations compared to non-HPS products in 2019 and 2020.

Statistics also indicate lower carbon emissions than from vessels known to be sailing with some “low-friction” foul-release silicone coatings that claim to offer market-leading performance. Only coatings applied within the three years preceding the emissions report were considered.

The internal study carried out by Jotun investigated major cargo vessel types, including bulk carriers, chemical tankers and oil tankers, with a dataset of almost 9,000 vessels, and the emissions report was verified by accredited parties.

The Carbon Intensity Index (CII) set to be implemented by the International Maritime Organization in 2023 focuses on the yearly reduction in emissions during operations. So vessel owners cannot just rely on the “out-of-dock” effect of hull maintenance. They need a reliable and effective antifouling solution that will perform consistently throughout the service interval.

Maintaining a cleaner hull with minimal fouling means a vessel has less resistance when sailing through water. Consequently, less power and fuel are required for the same speed and this directly reduces the amount of carbon dioxide released.

Jotun says vessels may be technically designed to be energy efficient and meet the Energy Efficiency Design Index and Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index requirements. In actual service, however, marine fouling, weather conditions and operational factors come into play.

While there are multiple ways to reduce the carbon intensity of operations, fouling protection is perhaps one of the most important and easiest to take advantage of, the company believes. It is already part of maintenance docking. It is also of great importance as the increased resistance of a fouled hull can easily negate efficiency gains from energy saving devices and modifications.

PERFORMANCE INDICATOR

Swedish biotechnology company I-Tech, developer of the antifouling agent, Selektope, has published five-year performance results achieved on a container vessel using a copper-free, Selektope-containing antifouling coating.

In March 2016, the hull of the 8,900teu containership was coated with Seaflo Neo CF Premium. This antifouling coating, supplied by Chugoku Marine Paints, was the first to be launched on the market suitable for ocean-going vessels that contains Selektope.

After 60 months of operation in waters with a high biofouling risk and with no hull cleaning undertaken, the ship entered dry dock with the vertical sides, flat bottom and niche areas of the hull completely free of any barnacle growth.

During this time, the container ship moved at an average speed of 17 knots in warm waters with an average operation level of 78%. The performance degradation of the vessel was evaluated in line with the in-service performance indicator standard, ISO 19030.

Analysis of the performance data (see below) confirms that the ship had a zero speed loss over 60 months. Compared with the market average for antifouling products, over a 60-month period the ship achieved 16.5% fuel savings and its CO2 emissions were reduced by 85,500 tons.

Biofouling risk increases in warm waters, peaking in water temperatures above 25°C. Depending on the season, between 50%85% of ship idling occurs in water temperatures above 15°C, where risk increases significantly.

The size and scale of biofouling hotspots, particularly those in tropical and sub-tropical waters, are increasing as climate change warms water temperatures globally. These areas contain higher concentrations of marine organisms responsible for biofouling on ships.

As such, vessels spending most of their time in these regions are at a higher risk of excessive hard fouling accumulation.

“The number of vessels entering dry dock after completing a five-year sailing period with Selektope protection in place is increasing, and the results speak for themselves,” says Per Svensson, sales and marketing director at I-Tech.

Our technology can mitigate highly impactful hard fouling, regardless of ship type, trading route and operational profile.

“Oceanic temperatures are warming, this means that conditions for barnacle population growth in coastal waters are becoming more favourable, increasing the risk of fouling.

Since this type of hard fouling has an immensely negative impact on ship efficiency, the role of antifouling solutions that make use of our technology, Selektope is increasing in importance.”