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Jotun Hull Performance Solutions is putting its money where its coating claims are, offering a money-back guarantee if its SeaQuantum X200 antifouling coating fails to deliver on fuel efficiency.
Ship owners and managers who purchase the silyl methacrylate antifouling can receive a refund on the product if it fails to deliver less than 1.5 per cent speed loss or a maximum 4.5 percent increase in fuel consumption over a 60-month dry-docking interval, says the Norwegian protective coatings manufacturer.
Jotun calls the guarantee unique in the industry.
Measuring Performance
The guarantee is calculated on a transparent measurement and analysis tool that combines information from torsion meters, speed through water, wind and draft, isolating the impact of hull and antifouling coatings on fuel consumption, Jotun says. The data are then analyzed to calculate the hull condition, creating a new standard in hull performance analysis.
Jotun developed the HPS guarantee partly to distinguish its product claims among marine coatings suppliers, says Bjorn Wallentin, Global Sales Director HPS.
With “different marine coatings suppliers offering guarantees based on different metrics and over different time periods, we recognized a demand for a truly transparent and independent methodology to calculate hull and fuel performance over time," Wallentin says. "We wanted to offer a guarantee based on a methodology that was every bit as good as SeaQuantum X200."
Product Information
Jotun introduced SeaQuantum in 2000 with Japanese partner NKM and says the product has been used on more than 6,000 vessels.
SeaQuantum is based on a silyl acrylate polymer that hydrolyzes when exposed to seawater. The biocide is a combination of cuprous oxide and copper pyrithione, which Jotun says EU and US authorities have verified as having “no unacceptable environmental effects.”
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Jotun |
| The guarantee relies on an analysis that isolates the impact of the antifouling on fuel consumption and creates a standard for hull performance. |
Protection is provided by a linear polishing rate and a low leached layer, ensuring controlled release of the biocides over time, Jotun says.
Improving Data Collection
Wallentin took issue with coating guarantees of hull performance before and shortly after docking.
Hull performance “will improve dramatically after blasting and recoating—regardless of what marine coating system is applied," he said. "Our focus is the period between dockings, when it is the performance of the coatings system in operation that counts and not the hull treatment at the yard."
The independent Norwegian Marine Technology Research Institute (Marintek) has calculated the average speed loss for the industry at 5 percent for the 60-month average lifetime of an antifouling coating, Jotun says. The extra fuel required to maintain speed over that time adds about 15 percent to fuel consumption, the company says. Jotun's guarantee is based on maximum average speed loss of 1.5 per cent over 60 months.
Hull Performance Tracking
Jotun says it will track SeaQuantum X200 performance over three to 12 months, beginning when the vessel exits dry-dock, to establish benchmark performance. Measurements are collected daily, with any deviation from the post-docking benchmark logged. These deviations are then averaged and compared with the maximum average speed loss at the end of each year. A comprehensive summary is delivered to the owner or charterer annually and at the end of the guarantee period, according to Jotun.
Using this data, Jotun says it will guarantee a maximum average (additional) speed loss for the life of the coating. If the performance average falls below the guaranteed hull performance, Jotun will compensate the owner with a guarantee related to the total antifouling system cost.
"Owners and charterers will have access to the hull performance data throughout the guarantee period,” says Wallentin. “Instead of a snapshot of vessel performance after dry docking, they get the full picture."
Jotun is working with the Norwegian class society Det Norske Veritas (DNV) to verify the HPS system, and Wallentin says the company welcomes feedback to fine-tune the data collection and analysis methods.
He said, "We believe that it is in everyone's interest to develop and introduce a hull performance standard."
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