Coatings standard can achieve ‘huge savings’ – but just a starting point

The ISO 19030 coatings standard can save ‘huge amounts of money in additional fuel costs’ -  but already the industry is looking to develop it.

AkzoNobel marine coatings business channel manager Michael Hindmarsh told Container Shipping & Trade “The standard draws a very good line in the sand. But it is just a start, and already people are talking about making it more accurate and improving this.”

An example of this is measuring hull and propeller performance - currently the standard does not differentiate between the two. “There is work to be done in developing methodologies to split the effect of just the propeller or just the hull. That is just the kind of work that we (AkzoNobel) would be involved in.”

As well as helping to further understand the fuel performance of vessels, such a differentiation would save time and money used in trying to get to get to the bottom of the problem of what specifically is affecting hull performance. “We sometimes get customers saying that their fuel performance is not as good as usual, and they want us to check if the coating is the problem. We will inspect the vessel and often find the problem is not the coating. Therefore, it is in the interest for everyone to develop the methods to separate out the effects of hull or propeller as it will reduce costs and save time,” said Mr Hindmarsh.

The standard is moving in the right direction, according to Jotun Hull Performance Solutions (HPS) global concept director Stein Kjølberg.

“More coatings suppliers are using the standard as a means to measure the performance of their coatings, as we have done with HPS. We also see that certain projects have started to specify requirements on speed loss according to the ISO standard.”

There performance indicators in the standard, such as the maintenance trigger, that can save fuel costs. Mr Kjølberg said “When we start to see a decline in performance, we have a reference line; if we see things changing, ship owners can carry out inspections to see if cleaning is needed or if there has been any damage. They can take initiatives at a much earlier stage than before and thereby save huge amounts of money in additional fuel cost.”

Mr Kjølberg said “The standard is not 100% but is good enough for practical application.” Once the standard has reached three years old, there will be opportunities for revision. “We will then have the experience to see where it can be improved.”