In order to ensure an underwater hull coating that would protect its vessels against the frequent impact of large pieces of floating dry ice, the Norwegian-based shipping company Utkilen has chosen Ecospeed for underwater protection of two newbuilding ice class chemical/product tankers.
The first vessel, Golfstraum, was delivered from a Croatian shipyard last November and her sistership Rystraum is to be delivered this year are of the highest ice class and will be trading in Northern Europe and the Baltic Sea areas.
Ecospeed has also received a Lloyd’s Register certificate that acknowledges the coating as an abrasion resistant ice coating for vessels intending to navigate in ice conditions.
The ice belts of both vessels, the area on the bow just above the waterline most prone to mechanical damage from sailing through ice, were also coated with Ecospeed.
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World Maritime News Staff, January 2, 2012; Image: Utkilen