Drydocking Reveals: Underwater Hull Coating Excellent
When a 294m cruise vessel came into drydock in the Bahamas last month, sailing with Ecospeed for two years, less than 1% of the underwater hull needed touch ups and no new paint layers were required on the rest of the underwater hull. As a consequence the technical operations that needed to be carried out on the vessel were very easy to plan because no repaint needed to be added to the schedule.
During the docking visitors could see first-hand the advantages Ecospeed offers ship owners. Marine consultant Mike Novak, who previously spent ten years as vice president of marine operations at Holland America Line, noted that he could clearly see that the required touch ups involved only 1% of the total surface. He stated that he had never seen an underwater hull in better condition after being in the water for two years.
Once-In-A-Lifetime
With all coating systems a vessel’s AHR (average hull roughness) will gradually increase due to the buildup of paint layers and the general deterioration of the paint system, resulting in increased fuel consumption. Ecospeed, however, is an once-in-a-lifetime coating that comes with a 10 year warranty and there will be no need to repaint the vessel during future drydockings as it maintains its smoothness throughout its lifetime, allowing the owner to always operate his fleet in excellent condition.
Combined System
Ecospeed is combined with an underwater cleaning and conditioning system, devised to remove any marine fouling at an early stage of development. This procedure is made very easy by Ecospeed’s non-stick properties that make it difficult for fouling organisms to attach to the hull. Cleaning can be repeated whenever needed during the vessel’s lifespan without causing damage or deterioration in quality and even significantly improving the coating’s surface characteristics on each occasion. This unique quality gives ship owners the opportunity to have their ship’s hull restored to its optimum condition whenever they want and sets Ecospeed entirely apart from antifouling paints that deteriorate over time.
Environmentally Safe
Independent tests have confirmed that Ecospeed remains 100% environmentally safe throughout its entire lifetime. It contains no poisons which could leach into the water, as happens with antifouling paint, and toxic fuel emissions are reduced. Based on these results several economically important European ports which maintained a ban on underwater cleaning, have all decided that Ecospeed is at present a Best Available Technology (BAT) and have allowed the practice of cleaning on hulls coated with Ecospeed. These ports recognize the negative impact of biocidal paints and they want to support environmentally safe solutions.