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Quantifying the scale of the barnacle fouling problem on the global shipping fleet

Published April, 2021

The hulls of vessels are complex surfaces, having many different ‘‘niche areas’’ wherein the effectiveness of biofouling management strategies such as the use of antifouling coatings and hull grooming methods, is limited compared to the flat surfaces of the hull.

In order to quantify just how significant the issue of barnacle infestation in ship niche areas is across the global shipping fleet, we contracted independent marine coating consultants, Safinah Group to analyze underwater hull fouling condition on a sample of 249 ships which drydocked over a four-year period between 2015-2019. The range of antifouling coating technologies included in the research were ships that were making use of both biocidal antifouling coating (low, medium and high grade) and foul release coatings The sample included all major ship types covering a range of trading activity. The 249 vessels examined were split by type.

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