The lifetime of a ship is greatly influenced by the corrosion conditions, particularly in the ballast tanks. To fulfil the demand for a long service life, the vessel should ideally be protected with a high-quality system correctly applied already at the newbuilding stage.

After delivery of the vessel a regular inspection and maintenance plan should be established where any damage, when discovered, is touched up with a suitable coating. In this way it will be possible to avoid major problems almost indefinitely.

Such considerations turned into concrete and mandatory requirements on 1st July 2008, when IMO’s Performance Standard for Protective Coatings, commonly referred to as PSPC, went into full effect.

This mandatory standard applies to coating of ballast tanks in all ships above 500 GT as well as double-side skin spaces on bulk carriers, and is an effort to protect the marine environment and seafarers. The aim is to ensure the structural integrity of the vessel as a whole by avoiding the catastrophic effects of corrosion, thereby improving marine safety in general.

The PSPC sets out requirements for improved procedures of coating water ballast tanks and better quality control by increased inspection requirements at all stages within surface preparation, coating application and coating quality. Further PSPC requirements are that the coating inspectors are formally certified (FROSIO, NACE or similar), that the coating system has received a type approval certificate by the relevant classification society and ultimately that documentation for all work related to the coating of the ballast tanks is compiled in a CTF (Coating Technical File), which is to follow the vessel through its service life.

Download a HEMPEL information leaflet on PSPC.


The correct and optimum ballast tank coating system is tailor-made to the specific type of vessel and its operating parameters: cargo temperature (min. and max.), trading pattern, maintenance schedule, expected service life - and also to the initial investment.

Consequently, to fulfil all requirements, Hempel offers different products and systems all of which comply with the PSPC standard and have received type approvals from the major classification societies. Please contact your local Hempel representative for advice on optimum specifications and repair options.

The ballast tanks often represent more than 50% of the entire coated area per vessel, and as large parts of the ballast tank areas are inaccessible during service, the quality of surface preparation and application is of crucial importance.

Throughout a ballast tank coating job, Hempel’s highly educated coating advisers (many FROSIO certified) will assist in planning, offer useful and relevant advice and can take care of job monitoring and quality control according to the requirements in the CTF. Our coating advisors are in effect our customer’s assurance that Hempel’s high quality ballast tank coatings are applied so as to offer the best protection and provide the most cost-effective performance.