Jotun’s Hull Performance Solutions (HPS) on a number of existing and new vessels. With almost 500 vessels, MSC has one of the world’s largest fleets of containerships. To help the company manage rising bunkering costs and comply with increasingly strict emissions regulations, MSC undertook a comprehensive programme to improve fuel efficiency in 2011. During this period they worked in close cooperation with Jotun to evaluate hull performance, and in 2013 agreed to launch a pilot programme, applying HPS on two vessels.
Jotun’s HPS concept combines premium marine coatings (SeaQuantum X200), priority technical service and on-board monitoring tools to measure hull performance over time, providing an analytical basis for the company’s unique money-back guarantee that covers the entire period between dry-dockings. HPS was developed in part to provide the industry with real time-data on long-term hull performance. That data allows owners to make more informed decisions about marine coatings and ship operations, and help them distinguish between competing coatings suppliers and quantify the impact of anti-foulings on fuel usage. According to a statement released by MSC’s Technical Office, the trial period demonstrated the value of Jotun’s premium anti-fouling SeaQuantum X200.
“We not only recorded significantly lower fuel costs over time using HPS, we valued the quality of Jotun’s technical service during all phases of the project. We have since chosen HPS for a number of other vessels.” Roberto Multari, Jotun’s regional Marine Sales Director, says that so far, MSC has agreed to utilise HPS on 12 vessels, both for existing tonnage scheduled for dry dockings and for newbuildings, including a series of 18,400 TEU container vessels now under construction at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering. “MSC has remained a true giant in the container segment by quietly making smart investments at the right time to improve their business,” he says. “We are confident that they have made the right choice with HPS.”