Norwegian Signs Fleet-wide Antifouling Contract
Nippon Paint Marine has signed a long-term supply contract with Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings to provide antifouling systems to 13 cruise ships operating under the Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises, and Regent Seven Seas Cruises brands.
The agreement, signed late last year, will see the coatings specialist apply its market-leading low-friction SPC antifouling, A-LF-Sea, to six Oceania vessels, five Regent Seven Seas Cruises vessels and Norwegian Cruise Lines ships Norwegian Epic and Norwegian Dawn.
A-LF Sea has already been applied in eleven drydocks while three vessels, Marina, Nautica and Norwegian Epic will be coated with the hull coating during scheduled drydockings later this year.
“Due to the impressive performance of A-LF-Sea in the past, we decided to broaden the scope of supply to half the Norwegian fleet with a more formal, long-term agreement,” said Carlo Paiella, Vice-President, Technical Operations for Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings.
Praising the reliability and performance of the coating technology, he added, “Nippon’s technical service and worldwide supply capabilities complement the excellent fuel-saving performance we have seen from this low-friction paint.
“As leaders in the cruise ship sector, we believe it is vitally important to do all we can to mitigate against any operations that may influence global climate change. The use of A-LF-Sea has helped towards our ships meeting the very stringent emissions reduction targets we have set.”
In December 2019, the company’s low-friction hull coating system LF-Sea won the 2020 Japanese Government Award for Global Warming Prevention Activity. The judging panel found use of the coating contributed to reduced drag, consequently resulting in lower fuel consumption and reduced CO2 emissions from those vessels that have applied the hull coating.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings operates a fleet of 28 cruise ships. The 13 vessels to which A-LF-Sea have or will be applied are Oceania Cruises’ Insignia, Marina, Nautica, Regatta, Riviera, and Sirena; Seven Seas Explorer, Seven Seas Mariner, Seven Seas Navigator, Seven Seas Splendor, and Seven Seas Voyager; and the Norwegian Cruise Line’s ships Norwegian Epic and Norwegian Dawn.
Nippon Paint Marine is also working with Norwegian in the verification testing and performance monitoring of its unique biocide-free hull coating Aquaterras. A test patch has been applied to an undisclosed cruise ship and results are being benchmarked against a conventional biocide-coating.
