Coatings News

For centuries, shipowners have fought a persistent enemy beneath the waterline: biofouling. Barnacles, algae, slime and other marine organisms attach themselves to hull surfaces, increasing hydrodynamic drag and reducing vessel efficiency. Traditionally, the fight against fouling relied on antifouling coatings, diver cleaning teams, and periodic drydock maintenance. But in the last decade, a new class of underwater robotics has begun to change that equation.Robotic hull-cleaning systems…

Nippon Paint Marine has launched AQUATERRAS 1100, a new coating with a low-VOC formulation that reduces impact on the marine environment and complies with regulations in major shipbuilding markets, including China and Korea.AQUTERRAS features HydroPhix™, a micro-domain structure that combines hydrophilic and hydrophobic structures that reduce the ability of marine organisms to attach to hull surfaces without the use of biocides.The coating is the first to feature Advanced Fouling Control (AFC)…

PPG announced the launch of PPG InsightsNav, an analytics platform designed to help shipowners and operators analyze and optimize seastock coatings purchasing data for improved operational and strategic planning.Marine operators often rely on fragmented or limited historical data, making long-term planning and cost control difficult. The PPG InsightsNav tool addresses this gap by presenting seastock coatings information in a standardized, user-friendly format that can be updated as new data becomes available.

PPG has completed its 200th vessel dry docking using electrostatic application of marine fouling control coatings, nearly three years after introducing the technique to the global shipping market.The project was completed on the Stena Britannica, a passenger and roll-on/roll-off cargo vessel operated by Stena Line, one of the world’s largest ferry companies, at the EDR Antwerp shipyard in Belgium. The team applied PPG SIGMAGLIDE® 2390 fouling release coating, a silicone-based…

Jotun, a leading manufacturer of marine coatings, reported an estimated 11.8 million tons of avoided CO₂ emissions for vessels coated with its products in 2025, an increase from 11.1 million tons from the year before. The result is verified based on an independent technical evaluation conducted by DNV.The verified avoided emissions is based on the average speed loss of the vessels included in the evaluation, compared to an industry benchmark referenced in ISO 19030. The evaluation…

Manufacturer Advanced Polymer Coatings (APC) has signed a deal with global maritime transportation group Fratelli Cosulich to support its methanol-ready fleet expansion.APC has signed a contract with the Italian headquartered group to supply its industry-leading MarineLINE cargo tank coating to two new IMO Class II chemical tankers, to prepare them for methanol bunkering in Singapore.The MarineLINE cargo tank coating will ensure superior chemical resistance, faster tank turnaround and extended service life.The 7…

Nippon Paint Marine has signed a technical collaboration agreement with Lloyd’s Register Advisory to assess long-term speed-loss performance of its FASTAR and AQUATERRAS hull coatings in service.Lloyd’s Register Advisory, which provides independent ship-performance consultancy, will evaluate how the coatings perform over time under the ISO 19030 measurement standard. The study is intended to create a validated, impartial benchmark for shipowners comparing coating efficiency, fuel…

Advanced Polymer Coatings (APC) has signed its first deal with Oman’s national shipping company.The contract will see APC’s MarineLINE coating system applied to two chemical tankers being constructed for Asyad Shipping Company.It is APC’s first deal with majority state-owned Asyad Shipping Company, which currently operates a fleet of more than 90 vessels, with a number of newbuilds in the pipeline.MarineLINE’s superior chemical resistance properties, ease and speed of cleaning…

Carboline has announced that Dr. Ali Shah has joined the company as Vice President of Global Research, Development, and Innovation.Shah brings over 22 years of product innovation experience, having held leadership positions with renowned global chemical companies, including Dow, Eastman, PPG and Lubrizol. His extensive expertise reflects Carboline’s ongoing commitment to delivering cutting-edge solutions to the market.“Carboline has a strong legacy of leading with technology and innovation,” said Shah.

Advanced Polymer Coatings (APC) has been chosen to provide its MarineLINE coating for up to six new vessels being built for Champion Tankers. The deal will see APC’s MarineLINE coating system initially applied to four product and chemical tankers with IMO II classification that will be constructed at the Chengxi Shipyard in China.Work on the first vessel for the privately owned Norwegian tanker group is set to get underway at the end of this year, with three others planned for 2026.

The cruise ship AIDAdiva operated by AIDA Cruises has been coated with Nippon Paint Marine’s AQUATERRAS hull coating. The application represents the 16th vessel in the Carnival group to fully be applied with Nippon’s biocide-free coating. In 2022, based on previous experience, Carnival applied AQUATERRAS to AIDAdiva. At that time, AIDAdiva was the third Carnival cruise vessel to be fully coated with AQUATERRAS.Although the ship operated in challenging itineraries in both the Caribbean and in Europe…

There’s a tendency for owners to stick with the coatings they are familiar with, but environmental concerns, particularly regarding marine biodiversity, are providing fresh opportunities for them to reconsider.Measuring hull coating performance from noon reports yields around 350 data points over a five-year docking cycle after including full loaded sailing days and excluding adverse weather days etc.But it’s become a more sophisticated challenge now that owners and operators have to factor in decarbonization regulations…

Carboline has named Priscila Nobre as the company’s inaugural Vice President of Supply Chain. She will oversee the company’s Sales Inventory and Operations Planning, Service Centers, Customer Service and Transportation departments.Carboline is a global manufacturer of high-performance coatings, linings, and fireproofing products based in St. Louis, Missouri, US.“Recent economic and environmental crises show us how dependent customers are on their supply chains and how strong supply chains make strong customer relationships,” Nobre said.

Ohio headquartered manufacturer Advanced Polymer Coatings (APC) is ramping up its manufacturing operation after signing a major new contract with Hafnia, the world’s largest operator of product and chemical tankers.The deal will see APC’s MarineLINE tank coating system applied to 10 chemical tankers in the Hafnia fleet over a two-year period.The tankers that will undertake the recoating process were brought into Hafnia’s fleet through acquisitions it made in January 2022. A number of them are already coated with MarineLINE…

EverClean’s “Always Clean” hull management service, which is designed to deliver maximum hull performance for commercial vessel owners, announced the launch of EverClean IQ.EverClean IQ provides EverClean customers with insights into their vessels’ condition below the waterline by harnessing data collected during the cleaning operations. Using multiple sensors and cameras the cutting-edge robot accumulates valuable data on the ships while they are being serviced. The robots also have a system for recording brush pressure feedback…

Garry Noonan, Director, Innovation, Ardmore Shipping is candid in discussing emerging technologies and their impact on ship fuel and emissions reductions. With a fleet of product and chemical tankers under his guise, Noonan gives insights on technologies that he has seen work, as well as his thoughts on the fuel transition, which he believes won’t become mainstream until we’re well into the 2030s.While Cork, Ireland-based Ardmore Shipping, founded in 2010, is relatively new in shipping circles…

South Korean shipyard Hanwha Ocean has developed its own anti-vibration paint designed to improve operational performance by reducing vibration and noise.The material is designed for surface warships.For the past 30 years, damping materials have been dependent on imports from the US and Germany, says Hanwha, which has meant that the yard has sometimes had to over-order to meet minimum order requirements, resulting in waste.“The anti-vibration material developed by Hanwha Ocean is cheaper than imported products and can be used without problems in terms of minimum order quantity or customs proce

PPG announced its 50th order for the electrostatic application of marine fouling control coatings, to be carried out on the VLCC SIDR, a 336-m oil tanker operated by Bahri Ship Management at the Asyad Drydock Company shipyard in Oman, using PPG NEXEON 810 antifouling coating on the hull.PPG introduced electrostatic coating application to the shipping industry just over a year ago, and the technique is designed to provide an increased transfer efficiency compared to airless spraying…

Maritime Reporter & Engineering News recently caught up with Karl Lander, Director of Regulatory Compliance and Outreach at maritime tech startup Armach Robotics, to hear the latest progress on its unique, small platform, intelligence-driven hull cleaning solution.Companies like Plymouth, MA, headquartered Armach Robotics (Armach) are justifiably convinced that cleaning hulls is set for wider adoption in the coming years, as the principle of coating hulls with substances designed to be noxious to marine life becomes increasingly problematic.

Eastern Pacific Shipping (EPS) is introducing Graphite Innovation & Technologies’ graphene-based, biocide-free propeller coating across its fleet after positive results on an LPG tanker.Graphite Innovation & Technologies (GIT) says the eco-friendly, highly durable, and ultra-low friction foul release coating, XGIT-PROP, is an effective way to improve and maintain the vessels’ CII ratings over the drydocking cycle.The coating is a three-layer graphene-based coating technology that is specifically designed to withstand harsh operational conditions and reduce the need for propeller polishing.

PPG has announced a collaboration with RightShip as part of Rightship’s Zero Harm Innovation Partners Program. The initiative aims to foster the development and adoption of innovative solutions to promote a more sustainable future in the maritime industry.PPG’s PPG SIGMAGLIDE® 2390 biocide-free silicone fouling release is the only hull coating to be approved by RightShip’s rigorous product review process for the Zero Harm Innovation Partners Program.The performance benefits of PPG Sigmaglide 2390 stem from PPG HYDRORESET™ technology.

KOTUG Canada has applied "revolutionary non-toxic noise reduction coatings" to the hull of one of its vessels, the K.J. Gardner.KOTUG Canada used Graphite Innovation and Technologies' (GIT) XGIT-URN coating to help reduce underwater radiated noise emitted from the ship’s hull and the vibrations that disturb marine life.K.J. Gardner is the first of three vessels using the GIT applications in support of KOTUG Canada’s mission to reduce the impact on the environment, specifically related to the reduction of noise that potentially disturbs aquatic life in the Salish Sea and adjacent waters.

Dry bulk shipping company Pacific Basin has decided to apply a sustainable graphene-based propeller coating XGIT-PROP, developed by Canadian company GIT Coatings, across its entire fleet.Following successful application and observing positive results on one of its Supramax dry bulk vessels, Pacific Basin has started the rollout of XGIT-PROP across 40 vessels scheduled for dry dock maintenance in 2024. This decarbonisation initiative marks the largest adoption of graphene-based propeller coating in the dry bulk segment.Sanjay Relan…