Knutsen’s New LNG Carrier Gets the Intersleek® Treatment

 

International Paint’s premium foul release coating, Intersleek® 900, has been applied to the hull of the 173,400 cubic metre Sevilla Knutsen, a new liquid natural gas carrier built at Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering in South Korea for Norwegian owner Knutsen OAS Shipping.

The application is an important milestone for several reasons. First, it is International Paint Korea’s (IPK) hundredth application of Intersleek, International’s leading range of silicone- and fluoropolymer-based foul-release coatings, which typically cut fuel consumption and reduce emissions by between 6% and 9%. Second, it is yet another application of Intersleek to the hull of a new LNG carrier. Intersleek has been used on a significant number of LNG carriers, including the Q-Flex and Q-Max vessels built in South Korea for Qatar’s Nakilat. This latest application means that over 1 million square metres of Intersleek have now been applied at newbuilding in Korea. Third, it demonstrates how one of the world’s largest shipbuilders has easily adopted the relatively new coatings technology at the ship construction stage.

“This is important for us because it demonstrates that the very latest hull coating technology can be applied effectively at the newbuilding stage,” explains John Willsher, Intersleek Market Manager. "In the past, some shipbuilders have resisted the application of latest-generation hull coatings in their shipyards on the grounds that they require specific application procedures. This project again illustrates that the world’s leading shipbuilders can apply the latest-generation hull coatings. Daewoo, in fact, completed its first Intersleek application in 2005.” 

Johannes Brynjulvsen, Knutsen’s project manager for the newbuilding LNG vessel commented: “This was the first time for us to use International Paint for any of our newbuilding vessels. It was not an easy decision to select Intersleek 900 because of the large investment involved, but we believe the product fits very well with our determination to be an environmentally responsible company. The investment will be more than recouped by fuel savings in service.”   

Such has been the resistance from some shipyards in the past that owners wishing to use Intersleek have been forced to re-dock their vessels soon after delivery to apply Intersleek coatings. “Some owners wishing to apply Intersleek have sailed their ships straight from the construction yard to a suitable repair yard in Singapore or Dubai for the foul-release coating to be applied,” explains Willsher. “Clearly this is an expensive and unnecessary use of fuel and material costs,” he said. 

“Now that Daewoo has again shown that the application of Intersleek at the new construction stage is feasible, we are hopeful that more of our clients will insist on our top-of-the-range fouling protection at the time their ships are built," Willsher says. This will save time, deviation, extra bunkers and emissions and, of course, money, making our coatings even more cost competitive.”

Introduced in February 2007, Intersleek 900 is a unique patented biocide-free fluoropolymer foul-release coating and represents the very latest advances in foul-release technology. It complements the widely acclaimed Intersleek 700 silicone-based foul-release coating, which has been available since 1999. There have now been more than 1,000 applications of the Intersleek range on a diverse range of ships’ hulls including container ships, tankers, bulk carriers, ro-ro vessels and ferries, gas carriers, chemical tankers and naval vessels.

IPK has achieved considerable success in the application of foul-release coatings in the Korean Newbuilding market since their first application at Daewoo in 2005.  Since then, Intersleek has also been applied at Hyundai Heavy Industries and Samsung Heavy Industries.