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Nippon Paint Specified for Carrier Ship Trio
Global coatings company Nippon Paint Marine reported that its hull and hold coatings were specified for a trio of Very Large Ore Carriers in South Korea. The three vessels are owned by Polaris Shipping, one of the country’s largest bulk carrier operators, with a fleet of 16 VLOCs, 13 cape size bulkers, one VLCC and 2 LR2 tankers.
“We have been using Nippon Paint Marine’s antifouling technology for both new buildings and existing tonnage since 2010, first LF-Sea, then A-LF-Sea, and now Fastar,” said Polari Shipping’s Fleet Support. “We look forward to positive effectiveness and performance so that it minimizes the risk of fouling when operating in idle conditions. This has a number of environmental benefits.”
According to the release, two of the 250,000dwt vessels, Stellar Young and Stellar Way, were applied with Neoguard and Fastar Coatings in July at Keppel Subic Shipyard, Inc. and Keppel Shipyard in Singapore, respectively. Additionally, sistership Stellar Venture received the coating application in September at China’s Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Marine Services Co., Ltd.
Neoguard 100 glass flake system was selected to protect the topsides and boottops. Fastar, a new nano antifouling technology, was specified for boottops and the vessels’ flat bottom. The hydrogel-containing version of Fastar XI was selected for the vertical sides of the ship to reduce fuel consumption by as much as 8%.
Nippon also noted that Fastar has yet to be fully benchmarked due to its recent introduction, but performance indicators reportedly suggest the coating could succeed the company’s LF-Sea range as the commercial maritime industry’s antifouling of choice.
Latest News: Polaris Shipping trio opts for Nippon Paint Marine hull and hold coatings https://t.co/w9Ip7nF0ui #shipping #maritime pic.twitter.com/kFWpn19Xyb
— shipmaninter (@ShipManInter) September 29, 2022
Ryan J. K. Kim, General Manager, Nippon Paint Marine (South Korea), furthered that while Fastar was applied to reduce biofouling and reduced drydock time and improve application times, Neoguard was also applied to protect the coating from mechanical damage.
“To reduce the risk of damage to hull coatings when berthing alongside we recommend a glass flake coating to add additional impact protection, from fenders and the like,” he said.
“It is often thought that expenditure and environment protection are inversely proportional. But Fastar has been found to reduce costs and protect the environment at the same time. This remarkable antifouling technology shortens the time in drydock for coating applications, reducing costs and off-hire time, allowing ships to return to service quickly and the cost of repairing the shipyard will be reduced. And when they back in service, they find fuel consumption has reduced,” said Nippon Paint Marine’s R&D Senior Manager in South Korea, M. G. Choi.
“Like Polaris Shipping, we are a company that strives to reduce the impact of shipping on the marine environment. The development of Fastar is very much in line with the needs of our customers and their energy efficiency requirements.”
As of Mary 2022, Nippon states that it has applied the Fastar technology to 155 vessels since its market entry in January 2021. Additionally, the company has secured three M&R projects from Polaris Shipping and will reportedly try to further expand the technology globally.
Recent Nippon News
In September, Nippon reported that cruise ships coated with its Aquaterras antifouling system are returning to service with hulls free of biofouling.
According to the release, the pair of ships were fully applicated in early 2019 and 2020, followed in mid-2020 by subsequent pandemic-enforced 18-month anchorage. In-water inspections were conducted in late 2021 showing that the hulls were in conditions that “exceeded expectations.”
As part of the inspection, photographs were taken of the coating on the hulls on other cruise ships, bulkers, tankers and containerships laid up in the Philippines, Bahamas, La Spezia and the Sea of Marmara. These also showed areas of “excellent antifouling performance.”
Photographs taken by divers inspecting one cruise ship coated with Aquaterras in the Bahamas showed no fouling on the vessel after 20 months of static operation. A test patch on an SPC coated cruise ship, which also sat idle for 20 months off La Spezia, Italy, showed near-zero fouling.
Nippon reported that ships coated with silicone-based paints, hard coatings and regular Self-Polishing Coatings (SPCs), including the company’s own A-LF-Sea range, were unable to compete with the Aquaterras results. Extensive growth build up was reportedly common during the pandemic hiatus.
Later that month, Nippon announced that a bulker ship cargo hold coated with its anticorrosive coating is not anticipated to require any remedial coating work until mid-2025. According to the emailed release, the company’s Neoguard coating was applied to the 40,000dwt bulker Starnes from HJH Shipmanagement GmbH.
Neoguard 100 GF is a flexible, surface tolerant multipurpose glass-flake epoxy. It was reportedly developed to provide corrosion and abrasion protection from seawater, chemicals and mechanical impact.
Neoguard Toughness, a heavy-duty epoxy anticorrosive paint, was newly developed to exhibit resistance against abrasion and impact to provide long-term protection for cargo spaces.
In 2020 at the Chengxi Shipyard, Nippon applied its HI-Epoxy 1494 coating, a zinc-rich epoxy primer, to bulkheads and tanktops, prior to two 200 micron (µm) coats of Neoguard 100 GF, in the cargo holds. The unloading tunnels were then coated with two 125µm coats of Neoguard Toughness before a single 50µm finish coating of E-Marine Finish M.
The company reports that it has applied its coatings to existing tonnage operated by the HJH, but the Starnes was the first newbuilding project with the owner. Other vessels include the self-unloading bulkers Bulknes and Sandnes, with the operator noting that extend coating repairs could not be achieved without a Neoguard application.
