Offshore staff
ANTWERP, Belgium – Subsea Industries has applied its Ecospeed hull coating and Ecoshield rudder protection coating to a shallow-draught anchor handling tug and supply (AHTS) vessel at the Atlas Shipyard in Gölcük, Turkey.
The AHTS owner chose the coatings to provide extensive protection of the vessel’s hull in polar waters. The 65-m (213-ft) long Ice Class 1A AHTC will operate in the Arctic region and comply withIMO Polar Code requirements.
According to Subsea Industries, the Polar Code recommends abrasion-resistant, low-friction coatings for vessels operating in ice conditions.
Ecospeed is certified for ice-going ships, and, the company claims, is one of the few coatings that allow the thickness of the steel of the ice belt to be reduced when a certified coating is applied. This brings financial benefits for newbuild projects.
“There is a risk that conventional anti-fouling paints can degrade rapidly in polar ice, leach chemicals or leave paint fragments behind when ice impacts damage the coating,” said the company’s production executive Manuel Hof. “There is no such risk with a hard-type coating.”
Ecospeed is applied in two layers of 500µm each. An anti-fouling coating system can often involve application of four or five, or even more, layers, but a two-coat application is said to be quicker, cheaper, and more flexible.
The company adds that Ecospeed only requires localized touch-ups during future drydocking, rather than full-scale removal and recoating.
02/16/2018
