Intersleek delivers big fuel savings for NSCSA

Eight Very Large Crude Carriers are achieving Very Large Carbon Cuts. A detailed performance analysis of a National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (NSCSA) tanker confirms that the company has achieved substantial fuel savings–and thus CO2 emissions reductions–since applying Intersleek coatings technology on the hulls of eight VLCCs.

In 2006, NSCSA – whose vessels are managed by its vessel operating subsidiary, Mideast Ship Management – decided to replace the self-polishing copolymer (SPC) biocidal antifoulings on eight of its 17 VLCCs with International Paint’s biocide-free silicone-based foul release coating, Intersleek 700. As the eight ships were drydocked successively through 2006 and 2007, their hulls were blasted and their vertical sides coated with Intersleek 700.

Since then, detailed performance analysis on board one of the VLCCs, the MV Ramlah, has proven the relative fuel savings and emissions reductions that resulted from the change.

The analysis covered the whole 60 month docking period prior to the application of the Intersleek 700 system and the on-going performance since the application (54 months to date). The results demonstrate an overall 6.4 percent improvement in fuel efficiency. This translates into a fuel savings of more than 6,500 tonnes, equivalent to around $3.2 million at $500 a tonne. Corresponding savings in greenhouse gas emissions mean that more than 20,000 tonnes of CO2 have been prevented from entering the atmosphere from this one vessel. The data have been independently verified by vessel performance specialists, BMT.

“These results are very important for us,” says John Willsher, Intersleek Product Manager. “They demonstrate that ship operators can not only benefit from substantial fuel savings but that the latest generation of foul release coatings can play a key role in shipping companies’ environmental strategies as they seek to reduce emissions. As we have said previously, there are many new technologies currently under development, some quite complex and expensive which do offer potential, but Intersleek is relatively simple, available now and these results prove the positive impact it can have.”

November 8, 2010