Marine Coatings Market is Focusing on Efficiency, Decarbonization

There is a lot more to marine coatings than merely appearance. Marine coatings protect vessels from corrosion and other issues, and can improve the vessel’s efficiency. In spite of the pandemic, leading marine coatings manufacturers reported that the past year saw strong growth.

Sijmen Visser, sales director, marine EMEA for PPG, reported that the marine market performed well during the early part of 2022.

“In our Protective and Marine Coatings (PMC) business, organic sales increased by a mid-teen-percentage in the first quarter, driven by strong selling price increases,” Visser said. “The business has seen continued impact from COVID due to lockdowns in China, which is affecting global supply chains. However, we expect this to improve going forward.”

Alexander Enström, EVP, head of marine at Hempel, reported similar growth.

“The market for marine coatings this year has been really strong, due to a pickup in global trade following the COVID pandemic, as well as new regulations coming in from the International Maritime Organization (IMO),” said Enström.

Visser noted that manufacturing supply chains have been recently impacted in China due to COVID-related restrictions.

“Several of our manufacturing sites there were mandated to shut down in the first quarter, including our principal Protective and Marine Coatings production facility. We expect the situation to continue to improve going forward,” Visser added.

Current Trends

Not surprisingly, stronger pushes toward sustainability and stricter environmental regulations are the topics that the marine coatings industry and their customers are keeping an eye on.

PPG’s Visser said that the landscape for marine coatings is moving towards products that can minimize impact on the marine environment and improve energy efficiency, helping to reduce power demand, lowering fuel consumption and carbon emissions.

“The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has brought two regulations into effect this year, EEXI and CII, to measure and reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of ships. With this in mind, we have focused on technologies and products that can help customers meet those goals,” Visser added.

“For example, PPG SIGMAGLIDE 1290 fouling release coating is now classified as a ‘category A’ solution by IMO to upgrade the energy label (EEXI) of ships. PPG Sigmaglide 1290 contributes to a significant speed-power curve improvement, therefore increasing operational efficiency and reducing carbon emissions. The 100% pure silicone technology is also a proven and robust solution against the most difficult fouling conditions,” added Visser.

“PPG performed several studies in cooperation with leading independent marine institutes to measure the power and speed impact on vessels retrofitted with PPG Sigmaglide 1290,” noted Visser. “Those tests determined that the coating provides a 20% reduction in power consumed at design level, and up to 35% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions when compared with traditional antifouling coatings.”

Enström pointed to greenhouse gas emissions standards as one area of interest.

“Our industry continues to push towards a decarbonized future following the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) ambitious greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) strategy that was set out in 2018,” said Enström.

“In 2021, this goal was refined when the IMO announced the Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index (EEXI) and the Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII), both of which are scheduled to come into force in 2023 and score vessels on efficiency. To meet them, most shipowners are having to look to every aspect of a ship’s operations to reduce emissions and increase their performance, and the choice of coating on a ship’s hull could have significant impact.”

Enström added that high-end coatings, such as Hempel’s Hempaguard range, reduce resistance, and in turn fuel consumption and emissions, through improved hull efficiency and offer a very good business case in terms of reduced operation costs, total cost of ownership and return on investment over a vessel’s lifespan. As such, they are increasingly being incorporated into many shipping companies’ decarbonization plans.

“Our premium Hempaguard system is being used as an operational measure to maintain a good CII rating by reducing fuel consumption and as a technical measure to increase reference speed after power limitations for the purpose of reaching the required EEXI,” Enström said. “These carbon reduction regulations are also having the effect of breaking down the ‘split incentive’ barrier which previously affected marine coatings producers. We are seeing more tonnage providers, who don’t pay for the fuel, actually investing in hull coating upgrades and, at the same time, charterers from all sectors (including bulkers and tankers) are financing upgrades for vessels they hire as they will also need to report emissions as part of Sea Cargo Charter agreement.

“In general, we are increasingly seeing the technology for marine coatings moving towards helping customers on their sustainability journey, whether it be about decarbonization, biocide-free solutions or reduction of red raw materials,” Enström concluded.

Enström noted that the decarbonization agenda is driving upgrades in the hull coatings market despite COVID.

“Owners and operations are switching to more efficient hull coatings solutions to address CII and EEXI,” said Enström. “What we are seeing today is a wider adoption of our silicone-based coatings such as Hempaguard (growth of 50% in one year).”

Environmental Regulations

Coatings manufacturers place an emphasis on keeping up with environmental regulations. For example, Visser observed that maritime regulations for pollution and carbon reduction from ships sailing internationally reflect the decisions of the IMO and the European Union, both of which are working to tighten agreed standards.

“As a result, shipowners are already working to improve their operational performance – increasing energy efficiency to reduce emissions – and potentially going beyond regulatory minimums to demonstrate their commitment to greener shipping,” Visser added.

Visser noted that Enterprises Shipping & Trading SA (EST) of Greece recently selected PPG Sigmaglide 1290 for its ability to reduce the frictional resistance of its fleet’s hull surfaces, which decreases power demand and related emissions.

“EST vessels that were retrofitted with energy-efficiency technologies are demonstrating a power reduction of more than 20%,” Visser said. “PPG Sigmaglide 1290 has been a major contributor to this performance improvement.”

Enström noted that embedding sustainability into everything Hempel does is a long-term action and commitment for Hempel.

“Sustainability is considered in major business decisions, from merger and acquisition evaluations to risk management, to our new solution process, where more sustainable solutions are prioritized in the pipeline,” said Enström.

“From the company’s standpoint, we have coatings already on the market that significantly reduce fuel consumption and associated emissions,” Enström added. “A great example of this is our ground-breaking Hempaguard X7 coating, as it delivers 6% in fuel savings (compared with a market average) across the docking interval. Since its launch in 2013 this hull coating has been applied to over 2,000 vessels, enabling those vessels to collectively reduce their fuel consumption by 7.6 million tons. This translates to lowering fuel costs by at least $2.6 billion and CO2 emissions by 23.5 million tons. This is something which we are very proud of.”

Enström reported that Hempel has pledged to help enable its customers to reduce up to 30 million tons of CO2 in total by 2025.

“The five-year strategy also seeks to make Hempel carbon neutral in our own operations and have zero waste to landfill by 2025; to lay out an action plan to phase out the use of hazardous raw materials in our products and processes; accelerate our efforts towards developing biocide-free products, and to halve the amount of scrapped finished goods and raw materials attributed to our operations,” he added.

New Marine Coatings Products

Marine coatings producers are developing new products that are helping vessel owners improve efficiency. Enström pointed to SeamFlow, a unique patented solution developed by Hempel.

“The solution is about smoothening of welding seams on ship hulls, thus reducing hydrodynamic drag in the water and delivering an average of 2.5% fuel savings (varies depending on the welding seam size), which will have positive impact on a ship’s EEXI and CII rating,” Enström said.

“The concept is sold as a full solution consisting of specialized tools, expert application supervisors in the dock, a unique thick coating, and project management services,” added Enström. “SeamFlow is so far targeted to single customers, with full ship applications completed in all major shipping hubs. Broader external roll-out planned for later in 2022, as capacity for application is scaled up.”

Visser said that recent PPG product releases include PPG SIGMA SAILADVANCE NX, which he noted is a significant breakthrough in antifouling technology.

“PPG Sigma Sailadvance NX was specifically developed to provide maximum hull protection and vessel performance in line with the requirements arising from IMO energy-efficiency measures,” Visser said.

“The coating delivers significant savings in fuel and related carbon dioxide emissions, resulting in lower total operational costs and improved contribution toward global carbon-reduction measures.

“The culmination of 10 years of intensive product development by PPG’s resin synthesis experts, PPG Sigma Sailadvance NX solves the shipping industry’s antifouling technology challenges by delivering real linear polishing, a minimal leached layer and protection against a broad spectrum of global fouling conditions,” added Visser.

“Formulated using PPG’s proprietary zinc methacrylate-controlled surface active polymer (CSP) resin, Sigma Sailadvance NX delivers ultra-premium performance with minimal speed loss of 1.0% to 1.5% on average over the operational period as well as improved fuel-saving capabilities and up to 15% CO2 savings,” Visser noted.

PPG also launched PPG PHENGUARD 985, a phenolic epoxy tank lining, which represents a breakthrough for the marine and tank storage sectors. The premium tank lining is designed to deliver extremely high chemical resistance to a wide range of aggressive chemicals and higher temperature resistance for chemicals that contain fatty acids.

“PPG Phenguard 985 features a patent-pending formulation that can be applied in two or three coats instead of the traditional three coats without compromising chemical resistance. This gives asset owners and contractors flexibility to apply their preferred coating system buildup while having full confidence in the end result,” Visser said.

“PPG Phenguard 985 has outstanding resistance to thousands of chemicals,” Visser observed. “Its key value is in the protection it offers to over 300 different cargoes that are composed of, or contain, fatty acids. These highly aggressive chemicals can cause problems for operators, as the temperature window required for their storage can be narrow and difficult to manage. As a result, temperature overshoots are a regular risk and can jeopardize the efficacy of the tank lining, leading to additional expense. To combat this, PPG Phenguard 985 has been specifically designed to accommodate an extended temperature window.”