12
S
HIPREPAIR
AND
C
ONVERSION
T
ECHNOLOGY
1
ST
Q
UARTER
2007
ONE c ert aint y when working on any
mainte nance or repair project is that
ge ne rally t he mor e you inspec t, t he
more you will f ind.
A
N Y r eg u lation that requ ires increased
i n sp e ctio n is li k ely to r es u lt in
incr eased main tenan ce a nd r ep ai r in du e
co ur se.
T he n ew I MO S olas C h apte r I I-1 /3 -2
amend ment f or the Per for man ce St and ard
for P rotective C oating s (PSPC ) for Water
Ballast tank s will not on ly r esult in mor e
fo cu s o n t he su r fa ce p r ep ar at io n an d
ap plicatio n of coating s at the newbu ild ing
stag e, b ut also du rin g vessels’ sub sequen t
th r o u g h lif e i n sp e cti on a nd p la n n ed
mainten an ce.
Th e amen dment, ado pted by the Mar itime
Safety Co mmittee of I MO in Decemb er
20 0 6, came in to fo rce th r ou g h I AC S in
Janu ar y 20 07 and app lies t o all v ess els
ov er 5 0 0g t a nd to do u ble s k in sp aces
of b u lk car r ier s of ov er 15 0m i n leng th .
Alt ho u g h th e ame nd men t sp ec if ica lly
ap plies to newbu ild in gs, it w ill clearly hav e
imp licatio ns in du e co u rs e f or t he rep air
indu str y.
Th e essence of the regu lation is to p rov id e
ballast tank co ating s applied at the newbu ild
stag e with a 15 -y ear tar get u s ef u l li fe,
based on d eg rees of coating b reakdo wn. I f
th e p aint co nsu mption of s hips is reviewed ,
then ty p ically, as a v essel ap pr oach es its
12th-13th year in ser v ice, there is a steady
increase in the demand fo r paint to keep th e
vessel main tain ed. Th us the 15-year tar get
is, alth oug h pos sible, d iff icult to achieve.
Th ere ar e two pos sible outcome scen arios
fo r th e sh ip r ep air : th e f ir st is that th e
gu idelin es dev elo ped do r esu lt in b allas t
tan k s w it h coatin gs th at h ave a 1 5 y ear
usef ul life. Th is cou ld resu lt in a r ed uction
in b al las t t ank coatin g wo rk t hr ou g h th e
life o f the vess el.
A lter n atively, the ad ded in sp ection a nd
as ses sment of th e b allast tank s, wh ich h ave
to b e main tain ed in a ‘go od co n dition’ -
def in ed as a 3% br eak down o n f lat su r faces
an d 20 % on ed ges and weld s - will resu lt in
an in crease in work , as in spections /aud its
lead to the identif icatio n of more f ailu res.
The con seq uen ce o f th is may well be an
increased wor kload for sh ip rep air yar ds.
I n br oad ter ms, the amend ment sets out a
su rf ace pr ep aration r egime an d a co atin g
scheme th at h as b een selected to p ro vid e
a 15-year us ef ul life for the co atin gs in th e
ballast tan ks.
Th e amendment f ur ther identif ies the need for the ow ner to su bsequ ently maintain th e
co atin gs, altho ug h the mean s by which th is
will b e ach ieved is n ot yet def ined, and is
lik ely to be th e sub ject of f u rth er regu lation
at so me time in th e f u tu r e. However , it
does stip ulate that the owner will n eed to
maintain a C oating Tech nical File o nbo ard
the vessel.
T he amen dment h as th e d esired g oal of
red u ci ng t he level o f f ailur es in ballas t
tan ks . I f it achieves th is aim, then ther e
is a lik eliho od that repair yard s will see a
dr op in the demand f or b allast tan k coating
wo rk, star ting in about f ive y ear s time. Th is
wo uld n ot on ly affect rep air yar ds, but also
tho se comp an ies sp ecialisin g i n o nb oar d
Repair yards set to feel impact of new ballast
tank coating rules
COATINGS AND PROTECTIVE COVERINGS
This ar ticle was written by Dr Raouf Kattan
FRINA BSc MSc PhD CEng, co-founde r of
Saf inah Limited, a UK firm set up to provide
support to the industr y in the coatings field.
(www.safinah.co.uk)
Assessing percen tage failure for coatings is noto rio usly d ifficult. Try assessing the deg ree of
rusting on the two photos as a percentage of the total area shown.
page 12, 14.indd 12
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