Painting a picture – good quality marine paints and coatings vital to keep bulk vessels safe and efficient

As if this is not all, paint manufacturers remain under pressure from national governments, the International Maritime Organization and environment protection groups to ensure that coatings and anti-fouling paints do not have any harmful chemicals and metallics in them. The progressive tightening of anti-fouling standards has demanded of marine paints and coatings manufacturers to invest heavily in research and development programmes and come up with products that will meet the twin objectives of keeping sea waters clean for marine life to do well and offer some extra life to vessels. Undeniably, some robust R&D pursuits in recent periods have helped marine paints manufacturers to contain costs in an environment of inflation and demand fall as they promoted the marine profile of the shipping industry. International Paint, part of AkzoNobel group, Hempel of Denmark, Jotun of Norway a, Nippon Paints and Chugoku Marine of Japan and PPG Industries of the US have remained at the forefront of product innovation and in a way active participants in the campaign to protect sea waters from fouling by boat movements.
Fleet owners and paints manufacturers were put on alert on the adoption of international convention on the control of harmful anti-fouling systems on ships in October 2001 and its entry into force in September 2008. Tributylin moiety, the most commonly used biocide and anti-fouling agent toxic to both micro-organisms and larger aquatic organisms, in the days preceding the convention coming into force, has been comprehensively phased out. Copper compounds are used effectively in metal sheeting. No doubt coatings of copper based paints give protection to hulls from plagues of barnacles and other hitchhikers that can cause damage to vessels. What is no less bad is when such plagues get collected around vessels, the engines have to work harder to run ships using extra fuel. So there is so much more emission of carbon dioxide (CO2). The debate as to whether the balance of advantage is in favour of copper based paints in the context of fears being expressed as to their leeching into the water disturbing marine life is not over.
Paints and coatings manufacturers as they come up with new variants of anti-fouling marine paints are under pressure that their application improves efficiency of ship operation thereby reducing CO2 emissions. Shipbuilders and repairers will be ready to pay a premium price for paints if these are found highly environment friendly besides giving protection to vessels over longer periods of time under trying offshore conditions. Even while marine paints are of much significance for vessel life and cleanliness of sea waters, in the total cost of vessels their share is hardly 3%. The global marine coatings market of around $5bn will return to its normal rate of growth once the doubts about the future of world economy have cleared. The ballpark estimate is that shipbuilding and repairing account for 82% use of marine coatings; pleasure craft, the making of which is largely based in Europe, 10%; and offshore applications (oil rigs and platforms), 8%.
Over the years, the focus of all leading paints manufacturers has shifted to Asia, the Far East in particular with China, South Korea and Japan leading the brigade of shipbuilding nations. While China has raced past others in terms of tonnage building capacity, South Korea and Japan have retained the lead in technology. India, which has a coastline of over 7,500km with many deep sea water ports is emerging as the next big centre for shipbuilding and repairing. While India’s major shipbuilders
like ABG and Bharati are to go for major capacity expansion both at existing sites and also build yards at new locations, shipping companies such as Apeejay and Mercator and engineering group Larsen & Toubro have decided to build shipyards. Not surprisingly then, the Norwegian Jotun group, which has been active in India for over two decades and has been running a paints manufacturing plant in Pune since April
2008, has decided to have a second unit. Jotun spokespersons have said on many occasions that India is next big emerging market for marine and industrial paints. India’s steady emergence as a shipbuilding centre is resting on its engineering excellence and low labour costs vis-a`-vis China, not to speak of Japan and South Korea.
Building manufacturing plants here are also on the radar of other leading marine paints makers. What they have decided to do in the meantime is to reinforce their distribution network. “You want to know why are the foreign marine paints groups not interested in building plants here in partnership with Indian parties. The basic reason is marine paints requires application of very high levels of technology which then has to be continuously refined and upgraded. This is particularly in evidence since the beginning of the new millennium. Foreign groups are not too keen to share technologies with outsiders or join hands with the locals in joint ventures. Building a speciality unit like marine paints is not a capital intensive proposition for multi-national corporations with turnover in billions of dollar. What is to be accepted is that there is not much that the locals can bring to the table,” says an industry observer. Even without local manufacturing facilities, the industry leaders continue to do well in India, registering double digit sales growth. The margins are, however, under pressure. The same is the case with Saudi Arabia where on the back of an emerging shipbuilding and repairing industry, the market for marine paints and coatings is growing.
The importance of R&D and assessment of performance of a product in actual operation is underpinned by International Paint joining hands with maritime consultancy BMT Argoss to establish how the Swedish company’s highest performance fouling control coatings Intersmooth SPC (self polishing copolymer) anti-fouling and Intersleek foul release coating are contributing to vessel performance, fuel savings and reduction in CO2 emissions. Jotun, which has to its credit quite a few breakthroughs in production of tin free paints and coatings, has on offer a bouquet of products, each endowed with properties to effectively prevent corrosion and fouling of any vessel. The company claims that each of its product is the result of intensive R&D and practical experience. Besides product quality, the performance of a paints company depends on how well it involves itself with shipbuilders from the planning stage of new constructions through the entire life of vessels. This is one sure way of offering most cost-effective coating protection to vessels for their entire life.