Belgium: Ecospeed Brings Cost-Effective, Non-Toxic Fouling Control on Underwater Hulls

Ecospeed Brings Cost-Effective, Non-Toxic Fouling Control on Underwater Hulls

There is currently no hull coating available which will not foul. The only way to remove this fouling is by cleaning it off. Like it or not, ship hull cleaning is an essential part of operating a vessel or a fleet efficiently and economically. Any level of fouling, including biofilm or slime, carries with it a considerable fuel penalty. With current fuel prices, this is too much to ignore.

If a ship is to sail clean then the cleaning must be 100%. It takes longer and therefore costs more. However, this extra time and money is more than recovered since the ship operates with a clean hull, thus benefiting from the maximum fuel savings. It is also the way to prevent the spread of non-indigenous species (NIS) and thus avoid falling “foul” of the increasingly tight regulations on this subject. Finally, along with regular cleaning goes regular inspection of sea chests and other nooks and crannies so that the ship can be kept in top running condition and any problems can be predicted and avoided.

In most circumstances, the best and most viable approach is to clean the ship 100% and to do so regularly and always before sailing if the ship has been stationary for a long enough period to have become fouled.

And ship hulls must be protected with a system which lends itself to fast, effective underwater cleaning without risk of damage to the coating and without posing any kind of hazard to the environment.

Ecospeed is a hard glassflake vinylester resin coating that can be cleaned underwater without any risk of chemical pollution to the environment or of damage to the coating. Ecospeed can be cleaned aggressively and rapidly and will only improve in smoothness with each cleaning. Underwater maintenance of Ecospeed can be regarded as a safety measure that prevents, rather than remedies, the spread of NIS. For these reasons several economically important ports have already overturned the existing general ban on underwater hull cleaning, specifically making an exception for vessels coated with Ecospeed.

Ecospeed’s qualities also make the coating ideally suited for the very strict preventative underwater maintenance plan that is part of the requirements to extend a vessel’s drydock interval to 7.5 years.

Underwater maintenance of Ecospeed is carried out with in-house designed underwater hull cleaning equipment by specially trained Hydrex diver/technicians. This allows them to clean the flat areas as well as the harder to reach parts of the hull without damaging the coating.

[mappress]

Shipbuilding Tribune Staff, December 25, 2011; Image: hydrex