Which hull coating will deliver the highest fuel and emissions savings on a slow steaming high-heat tanker? This was a question asked by international shipping company Vroon. The answer was Hempaguard.

Vroon provides seagoing transportation services, as well as engineering and support solutions, to customers around the world. As part of its fleet, Vroon operates around 20 product and high-heat tankers, known as IVER vessels. These tankers often steam slowly and can experience long idle periods – which makes them prone to fouling. When fouling organisms, such as barnacles and biological slime, attach to the vessel’s hull, the extra drag means additional fuel is needed to move the ship through the water, leading to greater fuel costs and higher emissions. Vroon needed a hull coating that would keep fouling at bay in these tough circumstances.

Vroon applied Hempaguard X7 to one of its IVER tankers in 2016 and noticed a clear improvement in hull performance compared to its sister ships. The IVER vessel operated more fuel efficiently and didn’t require hull cleaning, reducing both emissions and costs. Therefore, Vroon decided to switch more IVER ships to Hempaguard in 2021 and began by applying Hempaguard MaX to the IVER BEAUTY.

After considering various options, Vroon’s Performance Department concluded there was only one effective solution: Hempaguard.

Integrating silicone-hydrogel and full diffusion control of biocides, our Hempaguard hull coatings ensure an extremely low average speed loss of up to 1.2 per cent, whatever the vessel’s trading pattern. Importantly, they continue to perform, even if a vessel steams slowly or experiences extended idle periods. This translates into minimum out-of-dock fuel savings of 8 per cent compared to traditional antifoulings.

For the IVER BEAUTY, Vroon chose Hempaguard MaX as it delivers better fuel savings than other Hempaguard coatings. It also requires only three coats, reducing time and costs in dry dock. The IVER BEAUTY left dry dock with a new coat of Hempaguard MaX in early 2021. Vroon expects to upgrade more vessels to our high-performance hull coatings in the near future.