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July 2012www.marinelink.com 33average fuel and emissions savings of up to 9%. Cunard, from its own detailed studies on the propulsion efficiency of Queen Mary 2, confirmed that since the application of the Intersleek 900 systemto the ships vertical sides, vessel effi- ciency had improved by over 10%. We recognize the importance of provid- ing owners with as much information on the performance of our products as wecan. That?s why in October 2011 we an- nounced the formation of a partnershipwith BMT Argoss, the ship performance specialists. By using our world class foul- ing control coatings in conjunction withthe BMT SmartServices system, an ad-vanced onboard, real-time performance monitoring and reporting system whichacquires and records data automaticallyfrom ship sensors, owners and operators can benefit from independent monitoring and reporting on vessel in service per- formance. Coatings companies would seem to be in the cross hairs, with rising oil prices (and the resulting impact on your material costs) and a stagnate economy that hasseen shipowners delay maintenance. How has your company fared in the previous four years, and going forward, prepared to compete in this highly competitive envi- ronment? Brown, International Paint There?s no doubt recent market condi- tions have been testing. Looking at the previous four years, shipping went through an unprecedented boom up to2008 where vessel owners were making good returns and a record number of new ships were ordered. Since it can take sev- eral years for a ship to be delivered from the point when the original contract issigned, the newbuilding market contin- ued to grow, despite the global economic recession. This meant it was mainly good news in 2010 with our volume levels pos- itive and the year finishing ahead of 2009. Significant levels of raw material price inflation however caused margins to fall below 2009 levels. As expected, 2011 proved to be a chal- lenging year due to negative headwinds in both supply and demand. On the sup-ply side, the coatings industry suffered from continued and significant raw ma- terial cost pressures and an unprece-dented rise in commodity prices from oilto copper. In fact the Reuters-Jefferies CRB index, which is a benchmark index covering a basket of commodities, rose by more than 36% in mid 2011. Doyle, NACE Since IMO established detailed coatingrequirement initially for Ballast Water Tanks, and then Cargo Oil Tanks, the re- quirements for effective Protective Coat- ing Systems has increased. The requirement that Coating System must beinspected by a Certified Coating Inspec- tors is critical. The shipbuilders, Class and Administra- tions now need to know more about pro- tective coatings. We believe that an educated buyer is ultimately good for the Coatings Industry and the Marine Indus-try. With coating and corrosion repair es- timated to cost over 25% of the marine industries maintenance budget we be-lieve this is very good for the industry. Visser, PPG In the total picture of ship operationalcosts or new building, the coating costs represent in general 2?3%, whereas thecost of bunker fuel represents 80% of the operational costs. However, if our coat- ings are to be applied; we aim to make a positive impact on the ship?s total opera- tional cost, as illustrated in the two ex- amples below: 1. According to specialists in the market, hull coatings could contribute up to 3% of savings on bunker fuel costs. Owners are more and more recognizing this andtherefore we see an increase in the salesof our premium antifouling products.2. Ship crews are getting smaller while ships are getting bigger. We offer unique coatings as well as Internet solutions thatimprove efficiency for the onboard coat- ing maintenance of ships and fleets.How is your company investing today, and specifically, what types of innovation can shipowners expect from you in the coming 12 to 24 months.Visser, PPG Coating innovation is a continuous process. New product introduction is a controlled and step-by-step routine for usin order to evaluate each stage, thereby making sure that the product does inpractice what it was designed for in the labs. As you can appreciate, the timelines for innovations going into commercial use can vary from years to decades. The innovations ship owners can expect from us will be focused on products and serv-ices that support reducing the total oper- ational cost of ships. Next to new product introductions, we believe owners also would also like to see the promised per- formance of existing products actually delivered. Ship asset protection is a long- term commitment and therefore reliabil-ity of product and supplier is animportant asset (Examples: 7 years? serv- ice with the SIGMAGLIDE coating, 12 years? service with the SIGMA PHEN- GUARD coating). Van Rompay, Hydrex Our coating is stable, fully workable and does not need to change. It works per- fectly just as it is. We are continuing to evolve our line of in-water cleaning equipment. We also offer propeller clean- ing and have developed a system of more frequent but much lighter propeller main- tenance, cleaning with brushes instead ofpolishing with grinding wheels, which ismuch kinder to the environment and more fuel-efficient. We will continue to develop this. Luna, HempelWe are putting effort into developing products that will save ship owners even more fuel. We see that this is as the most common request among our customers.Hempel has extensive experience with developing antifoulings and fouling re- lease, and we?ve been successful with both technologies and are now seeing the benefits ? real vessels entering into dock after full service periods in very good conditions. That?s why we can say that our products have Proven Performance ? they have been tried and tested on real vessels for many years. We are continu- ing our product development building on our experience and have some really in- teresting new products coming up that could set new industry standards and de- fine the future of fuel saving potential. ?We are putting a great effort into developing products that will save ship owners even more fuel. We see that this is as the most common re- quest among our customers.?Jose Luna, HempelMR#7 (26-33):MR Template 7/9/2012 9:44 AM Page 33