The 2023 Marine Coatings Market

The marine coating industry has been enjoying growth in the post-pandemic world, and coatings industry leaders anticipate further expansion in the coming years.

Ariana Psomas, PPG segment director, newbuilding and drydocking, protective and marine coatings, said that the marine coatings market has been growing, driven by increased demand for premium and sustainable solutions.

“This was particularly notable in the drydocking segment driven by strong demand in fouling release products,” Psomas observed. “In the newbuilding segment, we see an increase in vessel ordering and we anticipate this to continue, further to the need for more efficient ships.”

“The market for marine coatings this year has been strong, due to new regulations from the International Maritime Organization (IMO) coming into effect that have had the effect of an increased demand for solutions that can improve energy efficiency, and a continued increase in shipping activity following the COVID pandemic,” Mads Raun Bertelsen, director, marine solutions at Hempel, noted.

Chris Birkert, marine segment manager for AkzoNobel, said that in newbuild, AkzoNobel is seeing an improvement in opportunity, but continued growth is highly dependent on newbuilding berths becoming available.

“The overall fleet size has grown incrementally, so with freight rates still performing well and with a continued focus on efficiency, we are seeing demand for our high-performance hull solutions and an increase in importance of underwater hull cleaning solutions, like International HullCare, which help shipowners save money through operating a clean, efficient vessel,” Birkert said.

Since the majority of shipbuilding is occurring in Asia, it is naturally the strongest market for marine coatings.

“The largest shipbuilding and dry dock locations of China, Korea and Japan are obvious areas,” Birkert said. “Trade disruption and slot availability has meant some areas of the Middle East and Europe are seeing more demand for M&R coatings. Ships will dry dock at either end of the cargo leg, and with the biggest trade coming in or out of China, it makes sense for them to stop there to minimize costs.”

“Asia continues to dominate new vessel and offshore asset construction, as well as being home to some of the largest ship repair and maintenance yards,” said Psomas. “Vessel owners operate worldwide but for merchant newbuildings – container ships, bulk carriers, tankers – the majority of construction will take place in north Asia. The exception is cruise vessels and ferries, where Europe maintains the majority market share, especially for cruise ships – owners expect a luxury finish and very high specification components, in which European yards specialize.”

As we emerge from the pandemic, one segment that is growing is cruise ship repainting.

Birkert said that AkzoNobel is seeing activity in the cruise market as more vessels come out of lay up.

“Many owners have carried out a lot of the remedial work to maximize the amount of time at sea, especially in cosmetic topside repairs and on-board maintenance,” added Birkert. “Hull efficiency and carbon intensity is also of interest to the cruise sector importance, as is underwater hull cleaning to reduce drag so that fuel and carbon emissions are reduced.”

Psomas said that PPG has noticed an uptick in recoating in all vessel segments, specifically driven by the new GHG regulations, CII and EEXI and the anticipated EU Emissions Trading Scheme.

“Shipowners of all segments are increasingly focusing on solutions that can help them boost their efficiency and contribute to their sustainability ambitions, such as our biocide-free silicone-based fouling release coating, PPG SIGMAGLIDE 2390,” Psomas added.

Improving Sustainability

One factor that is contributing to the growth in the marine coatings market is the increased interest in improving energy efficiency, and this is leading shipowners to move up their regular cleaning cycles.

PPG’s Psomas pointed out that marine coatings are supplied and re-supplied to merchant ships on a predictable lifecycle basis, from construction through five-year dry dock and regular out-of-the water special surveys.

However, the shipping industry is increasingly focusing on efficiency improvement and lowering the loss of speed caused by fouling.

“Regulations requiring progressively lower GHG emissions and power consumption are prompting owners to consider higher-performance, low-friction hull coatings that can help them achieve their efficiency goals and regulatory targets,” Psomas added.

“For example, PPG Sigmaglide 2390 silicone-based fouling release coating can significantly contribute in lowering GHG emissions by up to 35% as a result of less power consumption from minimal speed loss and reduced friction, making it considerably easier for shipowners and operators to achieve their environmental and sustainability goals and to meet EEXI and CII targets.”

Bertelsen noted that historically, shipowners have had little incentive to invest in technology upgrades such as marine coatings if the fuel savings went to the charterer.

“However, with new Carbon Intensity Indicator regulation implemented by the IMO, and a general focus on sustainability in the maritime industry, that is changing,” Bertelsen added. “The decarbonization push in the maritime industry is bringing together operators, charterers as well as shipowners and creating a need for investing in hull coating upgrades – even for the stakeholders who do not pay for the fuel.”

“The global fleet is growing due to the pickup in the new building in Korea and China, offset by less vessels being scrapped,” Birkert said. “Vessels are staying in operation for longer, which is increasing the age of the fleet – older ships require special surveys while in dock causing a further increase in repairs, such as steel replacement, which in turn increases the demand for coatings. We’ve seen a wider impact of the Russia-Ukraine war with ships having to increase their ton-mileage because of longer ship cargo routings, especially with oil and LNG commodities. This puts added importance on underwater coatings to provide a clean hull, reduce drag, improve fuel efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions.”

Important Trends

There are some important trends driving the market for marine coatings, most of which come back to environmental issues. Bertelsen said that the marine coatings industry continues to push towards a decarbonized future.

“At Hempel, we see ourselves as trusted partners on our customers’ sustainability journey,” Bertelsen continued. “The IMO’s Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index (EEXI) and Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII), both of which came into force at the start of 2023, score vessels on efficiency.

“To meet targets, 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,” Bertelsen added. “In fact, a Lloyd’s List survey from 2023 shows coatings is the number one energy efficiency technology that shipowners are deploying to meet the requirements of these new regulations.

“Premium 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,” Bertelsen added. “Launched in 2013, and applied to thousands of ships since, Hempaguard is a proven technology which helped our customers save 5.6 million tons of CO2e emissions in 2022.”

Psomas noted that the marine coatings market is being driven by twin imperatives: the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the desire to minimize impact on the marine environment.

“For owners needing to improve their efficiency and reduce energy consumption, speed loss and GHG emissions, PPG recently released PPG Sigmaglide 2390 coating, representing a real breakthrough in vessel efficiency and performance,”
Psomas observed.

“As the latest addition to the PPG Sigmaglide range that has been widely used by many vessel owners and operators worldwide for more than 30 years, PPG Sigmaglide 2390 silicone-based fouling release coating is a durable and extremely long-lasting biocide-free product that has been proven to improve performance and reduce carbon impact,” Psomas added. “Its unrivalled fouling-control performance is achieved with no release of biocides into the oceans.

“PPG Sigmaglide 2390 is designed to be suitable for electrostatic application, a highly sustainable application method with high transfer efficiency and reduced paint consumption due to less overspray,” Psomas concluded.

There have been recently enacted environmental regulations affecting the marine coatings market. AkzoNobel’s Birkert noted that all legislation changes increase pressure on coatings suppliers to make sure their products are future proof in terms of legislation.

“Regulations are expected to continue to evolve, so AkzoNobel invests a large amount of dedicated resources for monitoring changes in regulatory requirements and sustainability issues,” Birkert said. “We also work with different agencies and trade groups to help navigate the changing landscape of regulations.

“We have a number of metrics to make sure we are driving towards a goal of improved sustainability such as reduced VOC products, faster curing systems, less waste, reduced impact and biocide-free products,” added Birkert. “This is especially important to the marine sector. As a whole, marine business emits approximately 2.3% of the global CO2 emissions at 0.9bnt but has the challenge of being carbon neutral by 2050.”

Birkert noted that to enable compliance with the reduction targets set by COP26, the IMO has implemented stringent rules for the decarbonization of the marine industry that shipyards and ship owners must comply with.

“For newbuilding this is defined within the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) that mandates the reduced CO2 emissions that new ships must achieve versus previous vessel designs,” Birkert said.

Birkert noted that the market understands that to minimize CO2 emissions, it is as important as ever to maintain a clean, smooth hull to minimize the amount of drag and prevent any increase in fuel consumption.

“This is a combination of the highest performing anticorrosive primer and antifouling system to minimize surface roughness from corrosion, mechanical damage and biofouling accumulation,” Birkert added. “To ensure ultimate performance, shipyards and owners are now looking at the ultra-performing fouling control products from AkzoNobel such as Intercept 8500LPP or Intersleek 1100SR to provide the smoothest coating surface in combination with ultra-fouling protection to minimize drag and hence associated increases in fuel consumption when in service.”

To help with this, Birkert reported that AkzoNobel has launched the Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) calculator.

“This is AkzoNobel’s unique tool that determines the overall efficiency of a vessel and predicts its carbon output, how it will be classified under the new IMO regulations and – crucially – what ship owners can do to improve their rating,” said Birkert.   “The tool is independently verified and has already gained positive feedback from customers for predicting the impact of coating choice on CII rating over the docking cycle and ensuring that it will be in compliance with the legislation that started in January 2023,” added Birkert. “It works by using AkzoNobel’s Intertrac Vision tool, which uses the collective big data analysis from multiple points regarding vessel performance over a number of years and the results it shows are calculations of what reductions are necessary for carbon output for a ship to improve its rating.”