Feature 7 | NAVAL VESSEL REPAIRS AND REFITS Ecospeed proves its worth with Belgian Navy
Te recent drydocking of several Belgian Navy vessels that had been coated with Ecospeed showed the underwater hulls were still in very good condition, the company reports.
2006, and three tug boats, two of which were also coated in 2006 and one, Valcke, which has been sailing with Ecospeed for over five years. With conventional anti-fouling paint
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systems the average hull roughness and consequently hull friction increases over the lifetime of a ship. Tis is due to several factors, the main one being the build-up of paint every time the ship has to be recoated. On top of this, corrosion, cavitation and mechanical damage add to the roughness, as does the accumulation of marine fouling on the underwater hull of the vessel. Tis last factor is especially significant for Navy ships, where fouling inevitably builds up much faster during long idle periods in between operations. All these elements lead to a loss of performance and an increase in fuel consumption. According to Kristof Adam, a spokesman
for Subsea Industries, which markets Ecospeed: “Te coating’s properties make it impossible for fouling to penetrate the surface. As a result Ecospeed will not deteriorate and the optimum average hull roughness will be regained aſter each cleaning because surface integrity is maintained.”
mong the vessels that were docked earlier this year were the mine hunter Lobelia, which was coated in
A Belgian Navy mine hunter after four years with Ecospeed. In the past the Belgian Navy repainted
its vessels every year with a copper- based anti-fouling paint. However, with Ecospeed no repainting is necessary during the lifetime of the vessel. This elimination of paint layer build-up is expected to help the Navy achieve its goal of prolonging the drydock interval of its ships to 12 years. Ecospeed also points out that flow
channel tests organised by the French Ministry of Defence have confirmed the product’s resistance to cavitation. Tese tests were divided into six stages during which the coating was exposed to an increasing pressure drop which created an intensified cavitation force. Even aſter the last stage no erosion was present on the test patch coated with Ecospeed, the company claims. SCRT
Trelleborg mounts selected for frigate refit A repeat contract from the New Zealand Navy has been secured.
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he New Zealand Navy has contracted Trelleborg Industrial AVS to supply a new set of Metalastik engine mounts
for its Anzac Class frigates, to replace the mounts the company originally delivered to Tenix Defence Systems (now BAE) in 1993. Te bearings have been supplied through Hancock Industrial, Trelleborg’s New Zealand representative for this project. A total of 10 ANZAC frigates were built
at Tenix Defence Systems in Australia, and the two belonging to the New Zealand Navy have recently been through a mid-life refurbishment at the Devonport Naval Dockyard. When built, the Te Kaha and the Te Mana were each powered by one General Electric LM2500+ gas turbine and two MTU 12V1163 TB83 diesels driving two variable pitch propellers. Now, the diesels are being replaced with two MTU 12V1163 TB93
Shiprepair and Conversion Technology 4thQuarter 2010
engines, with a combined output of 8800kW at 1350rpm and weighing 16,000kg each. Te new engines, which will have their
own sets of Metalastik mounts, are each supplied by MTU on a raft. These rafts in turn will be supported on a total of 32 large Metalastik Super-D mounts together with eight elastomeric buffers to restrain horizontal movement. The mounts are being supplied by Trelleborg Industrial AVS
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