Mumbai-based Mercator Lines Limited continues to see the benefits of using International Paint’s fluoropolymer foul release coating, Intersleek 900, on two of their Aframax vessels, the ‘Prem Pride’ and ‘Prem Divya’.
 

Monday, June 8, 2009

The vertical sides of the ‘Prem Pride’ were coated with Intersleek 900 in October 2007. The positive performance results from that vessel, up to 6% reduction in fuel consumption, were sufficient to convince Mercator Lines to coat the entire underwater hull of the ‘Prem Divya’ during her second special survey in June 2008. 

“We have continued to closely monitor the performance of both vessels,” Mr Amit Agarwal, General Manager of Mercator Lines said. “Last year the monitoring showed that on the ‘Prem Pride’ we achieved up to 6% fuel savings using Intersleek 900. This year, with even more data, we can confirm that the fuel and emission savings have been maintained”.

Mr Agarwal continues, “Whilst we continue to be happy with the performance of Intersleek 900 on the ‘Prem Pride’, we fully expected an improvement on the ‘Prem Divya’ as we had increased the area of the underwater hull coated to include the flat bottom. The detailed monitoring of the performance of the ‘Prem Divya’ has confirmed that we are now achieving up to a 9% reduction in fuel consumption under comparable operating conditions.” 

One of India’s fastest growing shipping firms, Mercator Lines has been a pioneer of innovative technology. With Intersleek 900 resulting in fuel consumption savings of up to 6% on the ‘Prem Pride’ and 9% on the ‘Prem Divya’, the company has reduced emissions to the environment equating to almost 11,000 tonnes of CO₂, 100 tonnes of SO_x and 200 tonnes of NO_x.