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CRUISE SHIPPING ROYAL CARIBBEAN CRUISES LTD.

ects are forewarned to come to the table tion of coatings more analytical, less an- two through five, it’s going to have a with tangible numbers and proof, par- ecdotal. “We sit on the data, we have all big repercussion on our fuel efficiency,” ticularly where claims of energy savings of the ships connected, we see ship by said Tuteja. While RCCL is quick to are concerned. ship how much fouling they have year demand proof of product performance after year between drydocks, we see claims, it realizes the power of partner- which coating technology each has … ship and is open to data sharing with “Ask Anshul, he has the data”

Coatings used on the RCCL fleet is an- and then we can plan,” said Dahlgren. valued partners to help augment and other point of intense focus, particularly “If the paint doesn’t perform in years improve its own data, and ultimately the for Tuteja and his data analytics team, as making a mistake on the coatings for a ship can have a considerable impact on hull fouling thus increased drag and fuel consumption. Coatings are a particular

PROVEN Cargo Tank Lining for concern because of the cost in time and money to put the ship in drydock, blast off the old coatings and apply new ones.

CHEMICAL & PRODUCT TANKERS

All told, while the paint itself might cost around $300,000, getting stuck with the wrong coating and a fouled hull could cost up to $2-3 million more in fuel due to the additional drag in the five years between drydockings, according to Tu- teja. From the perspective the RCCL

GMO team, coating manufacturers have entered a dynamic period of rapid-fire

Aggressive new formulations and product develop-

Cargoes ment in the quest to keep hulls clean and reduce fuel consumption; increasingly sophisticated coating mixtures that of-

Easy Cleaning ten come claims of fuel savings. “We use our system to verify the ven-

Cargo Versatility dors,” said Aasen. “The vendors come to us and claim a 6% savings. Anshul

Heat Curing & pulls out the numbers and it’s actually 4%. He pulls out the data and there is no

Inspection discussion.” “We had an email chain (on a specific

Long Term coating technology recently) and they

Performance asked ‘what is your opinion?’” added

Dahlgren. “We both said ‘we don’t have an opinion, ask Anshul.’ He has all of

Helvetia the data. The data shows what’s right

Insurance and wrong. This has nothing to do with my opinion about any coating.”

The data driven approach has helped

RCCL winnow down its number of paint suppliers from close to 10 to “a few se-

Advanced Polymer Coatings lected suppliers based on their product

Avon, Ohio 44011 U.S.A. performance,” said Tuteja.

+1 440-444-9836 Phone

To help deliver even better results www.adv-polymer.com/mr

RCCL partnered with Maersk Line and its fleet of nearly 600 ships on a coating strategy to share data to make the selec- www.marinelink.com 43

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