shipbuilding plan centers on a fleet
of 313 ships to meet the needs for the
good of the Navy, for the good of the
nation and for the good of our allies
and partners.”
Another encouraging sign is the
establishment of the congressional
shipbuilding caucus, which currently
has 102 members. “We’re trying our
best to increase these numbers. We
need 218 for a majority,” said Losey.
“There’s a growing awareness in the
House that we need to increase ship
building,” he said. “What’s good for the
U.S. shipbuilding industry is good for
everyone attending this conference.”
During the next three days attendees had the opportunity to hear
from a variety of industry experts
presenting on such varied topics as
avoiding coatings failures in marine
environments to the latest regulatory issues from Europe and the U.S.
Certainly one of the most important issues facing the marine and off-shore coatings industry is avoiding
coatings failures in some of the most
challenging environments.
“Causes of coatings failures in marine
environments,” presented by Kan Tator,
KTA Tator, took a critical look at the
causes of coatings failure in a variety of
marine environments. Tator defined
coating failures as a coating system
that does not meet the expectations of
service suitability in terms of durability,
appearance or protection.
According to Tator, there are three
prevalent marine coating problem
areas: off-shore coatings, ballast tank
coating and concrete restoration. “By
and large most coatings failures have
to do with surface preparation or the
actual coating application,” said Tator.
“Most of these can be corrected.” Tator
outlined various coatings failures,
their causes and strategies to prevent
coatings failures in the future.
“Shipyard coatings: raising the
bar,” presented by David Strobel and
Tim Cherry of the Norfolk Naval
Shipyard focused on improving cost,
quality and schedule by eliminating
waste and variation in the shipyard
supply chain. In order to meet these
goals the Norfolk naval shipyard
implemented a program that uses
Lean Six Sigma practices.
Surface preparation is key when it
comes to applying marine and off-shore coatings. “Waterjetting:
Avoiding pitfalls and assuring success,” presented by John Tanner of
NLB Corporation, outlined the pros
and cons of switching from abrasive
blast to waterjetting. “You have to be
committed if you want to be a successful waterjetter,” said Tanner.
“You have to be comfortable doing
the necessary maintenance.”
According to Tanner potential users
must familiarize themselves with the
proper use and maintenance of the
pumps and other related equipment.
“Understanding pump fundamentals
is vital because you can’t maximize
profits on a job if the equipment is not
operating correctly,” he said.
Safety is another important issue.
Tanner stressed that waterjetting
can be extremely dangerous and
users must always wear the proper
equipment.
“Paint failures,” by Mike O’Brien,
Mark 10 Research Group, posed the
question, why do we still have coatings
failures. According to O’Brien, most of
these failures are entirely preventable.
“The goal is to minimize these failure and to remove them promptly
and honestly,” he said. He cited a
number of reasons for premature
coatings failure including surface
preparation, bad batch material,
improper application, poor specification, faulty inspection and equipment malfunction. “To get to the root
of the problem it is necessary to ask
why until the root of the problem is
uncovered,” he added.
According to O’Brien, the common
denominator in all premature coating failures is people. In order to
minimize coatings failures it is key
to select suitable and compatible
products and apply these products in
the exact way that is specified. “One
shoe doesn’t fit all–as each coating
has limitations,” said O’Brien.
Staying up-to-date on the latest
compliance standards, environmental regulations and legal issues is
critical in this industry.
“Update on SSPC standards for
surface preparation of steel,” presented by Bill Shoup, executive director, The Society for Protective
Coatings (SSPC), provided an
overview of its most recent standards. He also gave attendees information on how to obtain and comply
with these new standards. According
to Shoup it is very important to keep
current because, “the standards are
always evolving and changing.”
“Hexavalent Chromium,” presented by Ken Zacharias, of the National
Paint and Coatings Association, gave
an outline of OSHA’s new standard
for occupational exposure to hexavalent chromium.
“EPA update: Approving new
antifoulants and the status of TBT,” presented by Jill Bloom, review manager,
USEPA, office of pesticide programs,
special review and reregistration division, discussed the role of EPA in regulating antifiouling paint and provided
an overview of data requirements.
“Outcome IPPICGlobal Forum–
marine coatings” was presented by
Julian Hunter, antifouling specialist
at International Coatings Ltd. He
reviewed the International Paint
and Printing Ink Council’s (IPPIC)
recent meeting dealing with global
regulatory issues. The forum met to
discuss what the coatings industry
can do to lessen the burden of multiple regulations. Some key issues
were the global nature of the marine
industry and the expectation of vessel owners for paint products to meet
a number of requirements.
“Shipowners face a plethora of regulations and marine coatings companies must understand this diversity
and respond,” said Hunter. According
to Hunter, the coatings industry
needs a strong coordinated voice at
IMO-MEPC (International Maritime
Organization–Marine Environment
Protection Committee). “The coatings
industry needs to be prepared, have
a common voice and share experiences on key issues,” said Hunter.
A key point of his presentation was
to urge the marine industry to
explore whether it is possible for regulation of antifouling paint to be harmonized throughout the world. CW
