Coatings World - August 2017

The Marine Coatings Market

Reducing Fuel Consumption

The shipping industry is becoming more and more cost and
performance focused. “This has led to suppliers needing to de-
liver solutions that impact the bottom line for their custom-
ers, either by a low upfront investment or reducing their fuel
consumption,” noted Glud. “The most significant trend in the
shipping industry is to minimize speed loss during operation
as this leads to reduced fuel consumption and improved op-
erational efficiency. The global shipping industry has become
fiercely competitive over recent years and ship owners and op-
erators and constantly seeking new sustainable efficient solu-
tions to their operations.”
According to Glud, Hempel’s market leading and proprietary
Actiguard technology, which was first incorporated in its award-
winning hull coating Hempaguard, combines the best of both
worlds by integrating silicone-hydrogel and full diffusion con-
trol of biocides in a single coating.

“This means that Hempaguard provides ship owners and op-
erators with a maximum 1.4 percent speed loss over five years,
an outstanding resistance to fouling during idle periods of up
to 120 days, and releases 95 percent less biocide,” Glud said.
“Significantly, Hempaguard retains its effectiveness at all pas-
sage speeds which offers ship owners and operators unrivalled
flexibility in their fleet utilization.”
AkzoNobel launched its ‘Digital Vision’ at Nor-shipping,
which brings together digital technologies that will increase ef-
ficiencies, economies of scale, and enhance transparency and
accountability. This allows users to make smarter, more ecologi-
cally friendly decisions, according to the company.

“We recently launched four digital tools which are part of this exciting journey: Intertrac OBM, Intertrac Vision Lite, Intertrac Perform, and the International Marine Coatings app,” said Oscar Wezenbeek, managing director AkzoNobel’s Marine Coatings business.

The priority for Intertrac OBM is to give users actionable
tips and hints that will help out ship owners in the here and now.
“Imagine if, when you are out shopping, someone had analyzed
where you usually went, what you bought, and benchmarked
it to what others were doing,” said Wezenbeek. “That’s exactly
what Intertrac OBM does for sea stores coatings.”
Intertrac OBM is an online tool that records, visualizes
and analyzes OBM coating purchasing patterns by vessel and
fleet. It uses the AIS data, taking advantage of the increas-
ing satellite coverage, to record the port where paint is be-
ing delivered to the vessel. “If you’re frequently buying at a
port where you’re not getting the best rates, it’ll show you
where you could buy cheaper,” explained Wezenbeek. “And
it can also show you how you could eliminate small-quantity
ordering, and save by buying in larger batches. Overall, the
efficiencies generated could save OBM coatings costs by up
to 20 percent.

In 2015 AkzoNobel’s Marine Coatings business launched the
first digital tool for the shipping industry that can accurately
predict the potential fuel and CO2 savings offered by foul-
ing control coatings. With more than 3. 5 billion data points,
Intertrac Vision is the first “Big Data” solution to accurately
predict the performance of a coatings technology – before it has
been applied, Wezenbeek explained.
“We have now launched Intertrac Vision Lite, a new
iPad App which offers a lite version of Intertrac Vision,”
Wezenbeek added. “Intertrac Vision Lite enables ship own-
ers and operators to explore the role of big data in support-
ing hull performance predictions and purchasing decisions.
Intertrac Vision Lite has been developed to showcase key fea-
tures of the full Intertrac Vision tool. Users can input data
covering a sample selection of vessel types, fouling routes and
generic hull coating choices to create different coatings sce-
narios, and then compare variations in the effect on power
requirements, fuel costs, and CO2 emissions. It also includes
tips and commentary to explain the methodology that under-
pins Intertrac Vision, which includes the full range of param-
eters, and can be used to make comprehensive economic and
environmental decisions.”
Intertrac Perform offers continuous monitoring of the true
performance of a vessel. Co-developed with the University
College of London (UCL) this software is currently being tri-
alled. It measures and monitors hull performance data and
can validate it against predictions made by Intertrac Vision.
By analyzing power and speed profiles in accordance with the
ISO 19030 standard, users will be able to identify whether
coatings are performing as they should, and whether extra
maintenance or service may be necessary. The Intertrac fam-
ily of tools allows for seamless access to our wealth of marine
coatings knowledge.

The International Marine coatings app provides customers with increased convenience and flexibility in accessing the company’s wealth of coatings data. It has been specially Figure 3: Market Distribution of Marine Coatings by Functional Segment (2015)