Product tankers in the Arabian gulf benefits from the power of Selektope®

Greek ship manager benefits from Selektope-powered antifouling coating investment

Coral Shipping Corp. (Coral) is reaping the benefit from investing in Selektope-powered antifouling coatings to keep the hulls of five chartered product tankers in their fleet free from barnacle fouling.

The tankers operate within the Persian Gulf, with frequently idling in the waters near to Bahrain, at sea water temperatures between 25 to 30 degrees Celsius.

As a ship management company that ensures that all of its owned vessels are maintained to the highest of standards, Coral incorporates features and technologies that not just meet but are in excess of the strictest global safety and environmental standards but also equipment and systems that are over and above the minimum class, flag and industry requirements.

This is demonstrated by their progressive approach to investing in advanced antifouling coatings for their fleet that contain the Selektope.

Coral’s progressive approach to using this relatively new antifouling technology has yielded great reward with all five tankers demonstrating enhanced antifouling performance while operating within a high-risk biofouling hotspot in the Arabian gulf. Within this region, water temperatures can reach as high as 30 degrees Celsius and biofouling pressure is very high.

The small product tankers Anwar (4517 DWT), Azelea (6411,5 DWT), Alambra (4662 DWT), Avatar (6876 DWT) were coated with the Selektope-containing SEAFLO NEO CF Premium antifouling coating on the vertical sides and bootop, with another Selektope-containing product SEAGRANDPRIX 880HS+ used on the flat bottom. SEAFLO NEO CF PREMIUM was applied to the vertical sides, bootop and flat bottom of Sea Dweller. The flat bottom area of large range (LR) tankers Aquanaut (113033 DWT) and Celestial (113013 DWT) were coated with SEAGRANDPROX 880HS+ in 2018.

For all of these vessels, Selektope has continuously delivered superior protection against barnacle fouling during a 12-month period, particularly during periods when the vessels lay idle at anchor. When inspected during drydocking, a practice that Coral completes every 12 months due to the intense risk of fouling in the region, it was found that the hulls of the five vessels coated with the Selektope-powered antifouling had remained barnacle free with a low level of soft fouling compared to that encountered on other antifouling coating products used on other vessels in the fleet.

All aforementioned vessels have also demonstrated a slower increased in fuel consumption compared to other vessels operating in the fleet using other antifouling coating products. Based on these positive results, Coral will invest in Selektope-powered antifouling coatings for other vessels that they manage in their fleet.

Nikolaos Mastoris, General Manager, Coral Shipping Corp. says: “The anti-barnacle performance of Selektope has really made a great difference to the vessels using the technology in our fleet. While the biofouling in the areas in which these tankers operate is extremely high, this copper free antifouling containing Selektope has ensured that biofouling is significantly reduced, with no barnacles attached. This means that our oil major customers chartering Coral-managed tankers can enjoy enhanced fuel performance and a barnacle free hull thanks to Selektope.”

Incorporated in Liberia and established in Greece in 1998, Coral’s main activities include Commercial, Technical and Crew Management of mainly tanker vessels. Coral has successfully managed various types and sizes of tankers trading in different market segments around the globe and has built a solid reputation of a reliable ship manager. In addition to ship management, the company has been successfully managing a Petroleum Products Shore Storage Facility in the Sultanate of Oman, since 2007.

The current fleet of managed vessels by Coral include crude carriers (LR2’s and LR1’s), both clean and dirty product carriers (MR2’s and MR1’s), as well as, chemical tankers and small product vessels (ranging from 3,400 to 13,000 DWT) delivering/trading marine fuels.

Oil majors that currently gain benefit from of Coral’s first-adopter approach to maintaining the efficiency and fuel performance of their vessels through the use of advanced technologies and solutions include BP, Exxon, Shell, World Fuel Services, Vilma Oil, Glencore, Vitol, Sol, Trafigura, BR Petrobras and MTI Oil Marketing & Trading L.L.C.