Norwegian Cruise Line, based in Miami, is one of the most innovative companies operating in the cruise industry. As part of their commitment to the environment, Norwegian Cruise Line applied biocide free, Intersleek foul release coatings to the 78,309 GRT Norwegian Sun when it was built in Germany in 2001.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Ten years later, the Intersleek® system has only needed touch-up repairs, significantly reducing overall paint volume, packaging, waste and VOC emissions. Because full coats were not necessary, dry-docking time and costs were also significantly reduced.
During Norwegian Sun’s dry dock in the Bahamas in January 2011, it was noted that the Intersleek® system had performed well and was in good condition with no animal or weed fouling. Commenting on the performance of the Intersleek® system, Mr. Brian Swensen, Senior Vice President, Technical Operations, Norwegian Cruise Line said, “We are very pleased with the performance of the Intersleek® system. At Norwegian Sun’s two interim dry-docks, we only applied a total of 600 litres of Intersleek®. For a standard antifouling system, we would have used approximately 6,000 litres. This has resulted in a 90% reduction in VOC emissions and a 100% reduction in biocide release. The fact that no full coats were required meant that the dockings in 2004 and 2007 were completed ahead of schedule with lower paint and application costs than expected.”
Intersleek® has now been applied on more than 500 passenger vessels over the last 15 years, including 100 cruise vessels. Many of these vessels have achieved significant efficiency improvements with reduced environmental impact.
