International. Euronav, one of the independent oil companies engaged in the transportation and storage of crude oil in the ocean, sought to improve its environmental performance by reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions.
The company received recommendations from the manufacturer to switch to silicone hull coatings, which create and maintain greater softness outside the dock while limiting the amount of biocide released into the marine environment. Ten years later, Euronav has expanded the use of these silicone hull coatings to more vessels, with excellent results.
The solution
In 2007, in the first dry dock after a new construction, Euronav covered its VPlus Ultra Large Crude Carrier TI Europe with Hempasil, the first generation silicone hull coating. Six years later, the 440,000 DWT vessel was applied with Hempasil X3, a second-generation coating of silicone impurities. Now, TI Europe is browsing with our Hempaguard X7 product.
This helmet coating combines the low friction of the silicone surface with the efficiency of biocide scaling. Thanks to this formulation, it offers an average fuel economy of 6 percent over the entire coupling range compared to best-in-class antifouling, while releasing 95 percent less biocide. In addition, unlike regular hull coatings, Hempaguard retains effectiveness by switching between slow and fast vapors or during long periods of inactivity.
This has helped Euronav significantly reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, and also means that Euronav vessels can change shipping lanes and trading patterns without losing performance.
TI Europe was coated with Hempaguard X7 at the Yiu Lian shipyard in China. You can watch the video of the app by clicking here.
