Ecospeed News

Sea Change - America’s first hydrogen powered ferrySWITCH Maritime’s new 70-foot passenger ferry Sea Change is navigating uncharted waters as the United States’ first zero-emissions, hydrogen fuel cell-powered, electric-drive ferry.The pioneering aluminum newbuild, constructed by Bellingham, Wash. shipbuilder All American Marine, Inc. (AAM), has been completed and was launched this summer, though permitting of hydrogen fuel systems for maritime vessels is still being worked out with the U.S. Coast Guard.“Legislation and laws for passenger safety did not exist yet for this type of vessel.

In 2019 Finnish shipping company Eckerö coated the open cargo deck of their roro passenger ferry Finbo Cargo with Ecospeed. This was done to protect the deck against damage from cars and cargo. One year later the deck was still in excellent condition, in strong contrast to previous years. As a result, Eckerö decided to coat the ice belt and most of the hull with Ecospeed to offer it the same lasting protection.“We coated the weather deck with good result,” said Daniel Olsén, Technical Manager with Eckerö Group.

Three years ago, an Ecospeed hull coating was applied on Antarctic, a shallow draft anchor handling tug supply (AHTS) vessel owned by Ark Shipping Company. The success of this application led the vessel's owner to order the same protection for its next two shallow draught AHTS vessels: Polar and Polus. Building of these vessels will start in 2021 and will again take place at the Atlas Shipyard in Kocaeli, Turkey.Ark Shipping is a Russian river and sea shipping company that has been operating in the transport and logistics market since 1992.

Subsea Industries develops durable, non-toxic hard hull coating systems. Ecospeed was the first coating and was launched in 2002, but since then a line of other products has been added.EcoshieldEcoshield is an enhanced version of Ecospeed. Small but significant variations of the Ecospeed formula have been tested on rudders since 2002 with extraordinary results. After years of testing (initially under the name Ecospeed Strong) the product was launched in 2013.Ecoshield is designed to protect rudders and other underwater running gear against the cavitation phenomenon: against pitting…

Environmentally safe underwater ship hull coating helps DFDS fulfill its ecological goals.Last July the underwater hull of the roro vessel Magnolia Seaways was coated with Ecospeed in Gdansk, Poland. This non-toxic and easy washable coating system will keep the hull smooth for the service life of the vessel with minimal repair and no replacement. At the same time the rudder of the ship was treated with an Ecoshield coating which was designed specifically to protect underwater…

The SMM 2018 scheduled to take place September 4-7, 2018, in Hamburg, Germany, is held every two years and is the traditional launching platform for a variety of commercial shipping and shipbuilding technologies. Five new marine technologies to look for in Hamburg include:Dredging TechCompany: HydrexBooth: B7.505Product: Dredging innovationHydrex will unveil a new concept developed to protect the marine environment from the spread of contaminated sediments during dredging operations.

Diesel power specialist Royston has developed a special ecospeed analysis capability as part of its enginei electronic fuel management system (EFMS) to enable ship operators to identify and maintain optimum vessel speeds for efficient fuel usage.Devised with marine engineering specialists from Newcastle University, Royston has developed a new ecospeed algorithm based on speed modeling and an analysis of vessel operating data, correlating and synchronizing information from different…

Subsea Industries coating systems offer many benefits to shipowners, ship managers and operators. Applying Ecospeed (or any other Subsea Industries coating) to a vessel can save much worry, time and hassle for superintendents and shipyards during drydockings, as well as save expenses for the owner. Like all Subsea Industries products, Ecospeed is an extremely hard coating system with optimized hydrodynamics that can easily be maintained in service. This has a huge potential for reducing total cost of ownership of the vessel.

The reemergence of organotin in marine hull coatings is of increasing concern, with academics and environmentalists calling on International Maritime Organization (IMO) to investigate the use of tin in silicone-based foul release systems and other ships hull coatings. While use of the organotin tributyltin (TBT) was outlawed as an active biocide almost 10 years ago, the IMO is claimed to “have left the door open” for tin as a catalyst, but according to some academics the amount of organotin used suggests it could be acting as the active agent. Dr.

Subsea Industries’ Ecospeed hull protection system has been selected for RRS Sir David Attenborough, the polar research ship under construction at the Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead, Liverpool, U.K. The £150 million contract to build the vessel, which Cammell Laird won in 2015, represents the biggest commercial shipbuilding contract in Britain for 30 years. The ship has been commissioned by the National Environment Research Council (NERC) and will be operated by British Antarctic Survey (BAS).

Subsea Industries has strengthened its presence in the U.K.’s maritime and renewable energy sectors with opening up of a dedicated marine and offshore coatings office in the U.K. and the appointment of coatings specialist Mark Woods as its U.K.-based technical representative. The new office forms part of Subsea Industries’ wider growth strategy to meet increased demand for the company’s award-winning non-toxic hard coatings. As accounting manager, Woods will head up Chelmsford-based Subsea Industries U.K., with responsibility for sales growth across the company’s complete portfolio of marine coatings. However, the company is actively recruiting sales representatives for other locations.

Classification society Lloyd’s Register has renewed its certification of the Ecospeed hard coating as an approved abrasion resistant hull protection system for vessels operating in Polar waters. Upon receiving the new Certificate, Subsea Industries’ CEO Boud Van Rompay said: “Lloyd’s Register’s renewal confirms the lasting durability and strength of Ecospeed and is indicative of the increasing confidence classification societies have in hard-type protective hull coatings. “The…

Subsea Industries has received an order for its specialist hull and rudder coatings for application to a shallow draught anchor handling tug supply (AHTS) vessel under construction at Turkey’s Atlas Shipyard. The hard-type coatings were selected amidst strong competition because of their proven performance in polar waters. The Ice-Class 1A, 65m tug will carry out anchor handling and oil recovery duties in the ecologically sensitive Arctic in compliance with the IMO Polar Code requirements, due to enter into force in January.

Trading in ice is the toughest challenge for a hull coating. Regular anti-fouling paints or simple epoxies are usually scraped off by the constant abrasion of the ice, and extra drydockings are needed to repaint, often after just one season. This was a major issue for Hamburg-based shipowner Interscan Schiffahrt, which controls a fleet of 23 vessels, many of them operating in the Baltic Sea and seas in the far north. However, like other vessels operating in ice conditions, they required frequent repairs to their underwater coating, with time out of service every one or two years costing the owner dearly. The company no longer has this problem.

Newbuild M/S Eeva VG, the first of two very energy efficient dry cargo carriers managed by VG-Shipping, was coated with Ecospeed at the end of January ahead of her July 2016 delivery. Both new ships are VG EcoCoasters and will operate in the Baltic region. They are owned by Meriaura Group of which VG-shipping is a part. The vessels were designed as a new ship concept by Meriaura together with its partners Foreship Ltd and Aker Arctic Technology Inc. and are engineered to reduce environmental impact.

Jastram Technologies Ltd. (JTL) announced it has been appointed agent for Canada for the underwater hull coating Ecospeed and cavitation/corrosion barrier Ecoshield, and for Hydrex underwater repair and maintenance services. JTL will bring wide coverage and a high level of service and support to Hydrex and Ecospeed users and potential users across Canada. JTL is a coast to coast Canadian distributor for marine equipment manufacturers, with offices in British Columbia, Ontario and Nova Scotia. JTL customers range from Shipyards to Fleet Managers to end users.

Portsmouth Shipbuilding Group was set up in the wake of the decision made by BAE Systems last year to relocate its shipbuilding division to the Clyde, in Scotland, a move that put hundreds of jobs at risk, reports ‘The [Portsmouth] News'. But the project needed £100m of government money to get off the ground, and as no commitment was made by ministers that the cash or another Offshore Patrol Vessel [order] would come to light, it never happened. Now the workforce, which also included Aurora Ventures, Ecospeed Marine Ltd, Offshore Expeditions, and Burgess Marine, has decided the dream is over and has disbanded, says 'The News'.

Over the last couple of months a number of vessels have had their rudders coated with Ecoshield at shipyards in China. These include several container vessels and a car carrier. The applications will protect the rudders against cavitation and corrosion damage for the remainder of the vessels’ service lives. Many case studies testify to this success. M/v Maersk Deva came into drydock earlier this year, five years after application. The Ecoshield coating was still fully intact. More recently another container vessel drydocked in Shanghai. The vessel had been sailing with Ecoshield on its rudder for two years and the coating was still in excellent condition. No repaint or even touch-up was required. Other examples of the amazing results obtained with Ecoshield can be found here and here.

Ecospeed announced it will exhibit its line of fuel and cost saving solutions at SMM in Hamburg. Routine in-water cleaning results in a super smooth hull over the life of the vessel and is the best guarantee of the highest fuel savings possible. This is achieved with the Ecospeed hull coating and routine in-water conditioning and cleaning. The Ecospeed calculator will be available at the booth to take your figures and demonstrate the fuel and total ownership cost savings attainable for your ship with Ecospeed and routine in-water cleaning.

U.K. Royal Navy Ice Patrol Ship HMS Protector is deployed on operations for 330 days a year, mostly in the Antarctic region, making it essential that her underwater hull is protected against the harsh icy conditions she faces. At the end of May, HMS Protector was coated with Ecospeed at the A&P Tyne Ltd. Shipyard in Tyne and Wear, U.K. A top consideration in a hull coating for ice-going vessels and icebreakers is the ability of the coating to protect the hull in the harshest marine environment there is…

Shipowners, shipbuilders and representatives from the Green Award Foundation  attended the first in a series of planned ‘roadshows’ Subsea Industries has initiated to demonstrate the zero environmental impact and simplicity of cleaning hulls protected with its Ecospeed hard coating. Taking place last week in Maassluis, just outside Rotterdam, guests boarded Subsea Industries’ maintenance and dive support vessel to watch how vessels coated with Ecospeed can be cleaned effortlessly and legally in harbours…

With an increasing trend for thruster and rudder manufacturers finishing their products with self-cleaning protective hard coatings, Antwerp headquartered Subsea Industries has introduced a filler coating for use with its award-winning Ecoshield hard coat system. Ecofix, specifically formulated to provide shiprepairers and Original Equipment Manufacturers with a cost-effective solution for the repair of corroded or pitted steel surfaces, returns the thruster or rudder to its original state prior to touching up the repaired area with Ecoshield. Boud Van Rompay, Executive Director of Subsea Industries, said: “We are seeing an increasing…

Karberg & Schmitz GmbH of Hamburg, Germany, have been appointed as Ecospeed agents for the German territory, representing Subsea Industries and Hydrex in the sale and delivery of Ecospeed, Ecoshield and related products including service, maintenance and warranty work. The appointment follows increased interest in Ecospeed on the part of German based owners, operators and shipyards. Owners of many different types of vessels such as cruise ships, harbor tugs, ice-going merchant vessels and others have switched to Ecospeed as a better alternative hull protection and fuel efficiency system. With more than 3,000 ships, Germany is among the top five of the world merchant fleet list by country.