TECHNICAL • PAINTS & COATINGS
IP ice coatings for Yamal LNG fleet
The first in a series of 15 ice-breaking LNG carriers, Christophe de Margerie, has successfully completed ice trials in the Russian Arctic’s Kara Sea. The 172,600cu mtr vessel and her 14 sisters will effectively become the world’s largest icebreakers and, with Arc7 specifications, will be capable of breaking ice more than two metres thick in temperatures down to -52°C.
Michael Hindmarsh, business development director at International Paint (IP), cannot conceal his excitement about the new ships, not only because quite literally they will break their way into history as pioneering assets on the Northern Sea Route, but also because their hulls will be protected by IP’s Intershield®163 Inerta 160. The coating contract for the 15 LNG carrier hulls is likely to be largest-ever ice coating deal by far.
‘Of course, we’re delighted that our ice coating has been chosen to protect the hulls of these remarkable vessels,’ Hindmarsh tells Seatrade. ‘The Christophe de Margerie trials have been successfully completed over the last few weeks and our ice coating has performed well. We are particularly pleased to have won this contract as the Northern Sea Route opens up to become a viable option between Europe and Asia.’
‘The ships will operate, without icebreaker assistance, through some of the most difficult conditions on the
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planet. Their coatings will have to withstand the stress of breaking ice of 1.5mtr thickness at 5.5 knots when proceeding ahead. However, in their ‘double-acting’ operation, they will charge ice of up to 2.1mtr thickness and break it stern-first,’ he adds.
In fact, the formulation of
Intershield®163 Inerta 160 has barely changed since the coatings was introduced nearly four decades ago, but it is still the ice coating of choice for many ship operators who run ships through ice-bound seas.
The 15 Russian-classed vessels, to be owned by different companies including Sovcomflot, Sinotrans, Dynagas, Teekay LNG, China LNG Shipping and Mitsui OSK, will be chartered to Yamal LNG, a consortium comprising Novatek (51%), China National Petroleum Corporation (20%), Total (20%) and Silk Road Fund (9.9%). Yamal LNG will export gas from the giant South-Tambeyskoye field located near Sabetta, where a new LNG export facility is under construction (see earlier article).
The ships will carry up to 16.5m tonnes of LNG a year to Asian markets via the Northern Sea Route between May and November. When the route becomes impassable during other months, they will ship LNG to northern Europe for on-shipment to other destinations.
The Daewoo-built ships will have dual-fuel diesel-electric machinery
and will operate on gas most of the time. Each vessel will have a massive 45MW of power available on board, supplied by three of ABB’s largest Azipods, each of 15MW.
Unique additive
More than ten years of research at Gothenburg-based I-Tech AB, a biotech innovator, looks set to pay back. A new biocide – an organic non-metal compound called Selektope – has recently been approved as an additive to antifouling coatings in the EU, Japan, South Korea and China. It has yielded spectacular results in tests on board the 46,067 IMO II tanker, Calypso, built in 2010 and owned by Laurin Maritime.
A copper-free coating containing Selektope was applied to the side walls of the tanker during her first five-year docking at Sembcorp in Singapore. Then the ship’s performance through high-risk fouling regions including East and South Asia, Australia and the Americas, was monitored and independently assessed by Propulsion Dynamics, a hull and propeller performance monitoring specialist.
After 12 months, the tanker’s hull resistance had risen by just 3% compared with a typical increase of 5-10%, with most of the increase coming from the propeller, rather than the hull. Although this trial is still at a relatively early stage and more monitoring is required, it confirms the Swedish company’s earlier R&D findings.
Seatrade Maritime Review • Quarterly Issue 2 • June 2017 89
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