One of Europe's leading cruise ship builders

Safinah used its proprietary Coating Audit System to review the application activities of the yard and made recommendations.

Short and medium term plans were put in place to improve productivity and bench mark the client against competitors.

Over the last four years the client has implemented many of the recommended changes and confirms that performance has improved.

Ship manager in Southern Europe

The client had 8 chemical tankers which had been rejected for cargo carriage as a result of perceived problems with the cargo tank coating.

Safinah investigated the nature of the contamination problems and made an independent assessment of alternative cleaning strategies for the client.

This work was the first of its kind to involve the analysis of the major proprietary cleaning agents and how they should be handled without damaging the very expensive coatings.

Safinah recommended a cleaning procedure and the appropriate materials suitable for the coating and the cargo carried. This has now been implemented by the owner and the ship is back in operation.

A leading European Mega-yacht builder and their customer

To ensure that the build of a new mega-yacht could be completed on time and to budget.

Safinah worked with both parties to define procedures and methods. We provided on the ground advice and equipment for measuring the cosmetic finish and detailed procedures for monitoring the progress of the work.

Client was extremely satisfied with Safinah's work and has retained Safinah for further consulting in order to complete the project.

Improved communication between client and yard, improved progress of the work and improved quality of the application with a reduction in re-work.

A multi-national company in Northern Europe

To help guide their research team in raw material product development for the marine market.

The client needed to identify and quantify key market sectors to target for growth, based on its in-house expertise.

The key attributes of the raw material were assessed and valued by linking them to benefits to the end user.

The valuation of the raw material was used for pricing guidelines.

Safinah went on to provide detailed assistance with paint formulation, test programme development and management. The team identified modifications for the materials to work perfectly prior to releasing them for marine application. The work with this client continues on a regular basis with both new and existing ideas being developed and reviewed.

A major defence contractor

To develop solutions for coating issues associated with the largest warships to be built in the UK for many years.

Safinah had to develop common standards, strategies and a cost reduction approach for this four site build programme to achieve both cost and quality requirements.

Safinah developed a common coating strategy to fit with the proposed build strategy and recommended a common set of standards for the work to be carried out.

At the same time, Safinah developed a cost model to show how cost reductions of 30% could be achieved against the base specification without compromising the integrity of the coating process and scheme.

Conseil Europeén de l'industrie des Pintures, des Encres d'imprimerie et des Couleurs d'Art (CEPE)

To provide urgent technical assistance to develop a definitive scenario model for anti-fouling environmental impacts at the new build and repair phases of ships, leisure craft and aqua culture.

This European Consortium commissioned Safinah to develop the emission scenario and to provide input into an OECD report being prepared by third party consultants.

The analysis carried out was the first of its kind.

Safinah created a model to look at a range of facilities from good to poor and developed emissions ratings and scenarios for an overall assessment.

Safinah's team met the tight time schedule requested.

The report findings were incorporated into the final OECD report, which is available through the European Chemicals Bureau at ecb.jrc.it/biocides.

A Facilities Manager

A review of coating failure on major MOD facility was requested to assess cause of failure and propose repair procedure and products.

The cause of the failure was identified and repairs recommended which were carried out successfully.

A leading European based loss adjusting firm

To identify the cause of a coating failure and to assess the proposed method of repair.

The loss adjuster, together with a number of Lloyds syndicates, was managing a claim resulting from a coating failure on an offshore structure.

Safinah identified the extent of the liability by reviewing both shipyard records and on site records to assess if the application had been in line with the manufacturer's specification.

The method of repair was reviewed and an alternative more robust approach recommended for those areas that fell within the terms of the insurance.

The owner of a fleet in Northern Europe

To develop a method to assess the technical merit of bids from rival paint companies after the owner had put a fleet coating contract out to tender.

Safinah used a functional coating specification approach to identify the key attributes for the client in the critical vessel areas.

The owner selected coatings based on through life costs and technical merit - rather than simply on the basis of the lowest bid.

The selected products are performing in line with expectations.

The client continues to use Safinah for technical support work.

Marine insurance company and leading loss adjusting firm.

Insurers faced a significant claim by a major oil company after a coating failure on an offshore structure.

Working on behalf of the insurers, Safinah was able to assess the nature of the failure and recommend an alternative solution reducing the claim value by 30%.

The claim was ultimately settled for the amount stipulated by Safinah and Safinah was awarded the contract for five other similar structures with coating problems.

European Commission

Safinah worked with two other companies, Det Norske Veritas and Appledore International Ltd., to identify the potential for decommissioning ships in various sites throughout Europe.

Safinah made a significant contribution to the end of life scenarios for the coatings on board the vessels as well as providing input to all other aspects of the project.

A number of potential sites and scenarios were identified indicating that it would be possible to decommission ships in an environmentally sustainable manner in Europe.

The report has been widely disseminated and referenced in subsequent studies.

The insurers of a large oil-refining complex in Eastern Europe

The passive fire protection systems on both the fabric and production facilities of this major refining site had failed.

Safinah carried out an in depth investigation into the cause of the failure and solutions to restore the first of the three different systems used.

The first system has been restored and the client is completely satisfied with the work.

As a result, Safinah has been re-appointed for the assessment of the remaining two systems, as the sole independent assessor by both parties involved in the claim.

Ship owner & design consultancy

To mitigate a claim by charterers for speed loss due to fouling.

Safinah contributed to the assessment of the coating selected and its suitability for the trading pattern of the vessel and its last dry-docking. It also assessed the expected speed loss based on the naval architecture analysis of the problem.

The client was successful in defending against the claim.

Company in Northern Europe

To review key market sectors in the Far-East, Europe and the USA to identify opportunities for acquisition or generic growth.

Safinah developed a corporate strategy for growth and expansion as well as assessing market opportunities in target countries. This included training, market analysis, IPR review and technical support.

The company has now expanded internationally to become one of the biggest in the world.

North American Shipyard

To assess all aspects of its coating activities at both pre-production and production stages

Safinah carried out a Coating Activity Review and provided immediate feedback.

They developed short/medium and long-term action plans identifying priority areas. The yard was benchmarked against yards worldwide and local competitors in terms of productivity and cost for the overall parameters of performance.

The yard repeated the exercise three years later to check their progress in key areas and to identify a new set of priorities after significant investment in the facility.

The work identified areas of improvement such as major man-hour savings, improvements in the reporting systems using computerised systems and having coating input at the design stage for the development of a suitable coating strategy.

The owner of a fleet in Northern Europe

To provide urgent technical assistance to develop a definitive scenario model for anti-fouling environmental impacts at the new build and repair phases of ships, leisure craft and aqua culture. Safinah used a functional coating specification approach to identify the key attributes for the client in the critical vessel areas

The owner selected coatings based on through life costs and technical merit - rather than simply on the basis of the lowest bid. The selected products are performing in line with expectations. The client continues to use Safinah for technical support work.

A government ministry in Asia

To provide an independent view on proposed IMO regulations on anti-corrosion measures to be implemented for the world's fleet.

Safinah used its world-wide network of clients and shareholders to obtain up to the minute assessments from over 7 major shipbuilding nations.

They identified the key problem areas and challenges being imposed by the regulations proposed as well as identifying points of weakness/contradictions within the regulations themselves.

A leading classification society in Northern Europe

To identify the range of services it should offer to support the growing IACS involvement in protection against corrosion and control of coatings through the life of the vessel.

Safinah suggested a number of initiatives which were developed.

This client is now established as a leading provider of advice and guidelines for marine coatings.

Safinah trained 20 senior surveyors in the process of coating during new construction. This was part of the initiative to develop an expertise in coating.

A company in Northern Europe

To carry out research to understand the potential of new technology.

The company had identified specific areas of new technology and their applications to investigate as part of their upstream research plan. Safinah's research consisted of literature searches, speaking to key developers and academics, patent searches and mapping.

Safinah prioritised the technologies based on key parameters such as cost, development risk and potential to deliver the benefit.

The top ranked project ideas were taken up for further development.

A leading marine paint company in Northern Europe

To create and deliver a market awareness workshop for the senior marine managers looking at three key segments: new building, dry dock and maintenance at sea.

New building demand was projected on a region-by-region basis in terms of litres of paint of the key product types. Safinah generated a model based on the number of vessels and typical vessel areas to develop a market demand forecast. Dry-dock: demand was developed based on the projected demand for repair in the key regions around the world. A specific model was developed to deal with anti-fouling demand.

Maintenance at Sea was modelled and forecast demands created. This work was updated two years later with a greater emphasis on the Far-East market and the development of potential strategies for the client in this key region.

Wind Energy Company, Insurance Company

An offshore wind farm with windmills erected on mono-piles started to show evidence of coating failure after a few years. The failure was identified as corrosion and blistering from the splash zone upwards.

Safinah were instructed to examine, quantify and identify the reason for the coating breakdown for the owner and their insurer.  Based on this, a procedure to repair the windmill in situ was then proposed. 

Safinah’s repair recommendations were followed and Safinah was asked to inspect the repair process to authorise the work as it progressed.  The repair was successfully carried out to the owners and the insurance companies satisfaction. 

Wind Energy Company

A major wind turbine energy company when planning a new installation needed Safinah's expertise to provide coating strategies and specifications for different windmill locations. They needed to:

• Look at existing processes and procedures and make recommendations on changes/improvement. 
• Develop the requirements of a functional paint specification to meet different corrosion environments.
• Develop a paint scheme that is suited to the production and operational needs to maximise the through-life performance.

Coating specifications were created to cope with the environment the turbine would be placed in. These related to the coating scheme as well as the method of application in order to meet production requirements.