Klaveness Combination Carriers is focusing on minimizing marine growth on the underwater hull of their vessels to reduce hull friction resistance, as the company supports that lower hull friction leads to lower fuel consumption and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
Accordingly, the company has launched several projects focusing on marine growth to seek easier ways to monitor and inspect the state of hull growth, to prevent marine life to start growing on ships in the first place, and to remove existing hull growth – monitor, prevent and remove.
Biofouling, or hull marine growth, has been a challenge for both ship owners and boat enthusiasts throughout history. The company comments that “for us reducing the growth of marine organisms on hulls is therefore, a “low hanging fruit” ship efficiency measure to reach our short term strategy target of reducing average absolute fuel consumption and CO2 emissions per vessel by a minimum of 15% within 2022.”
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In addition, the company has increased the frequency of performing hull inspections in port. This provides them with the chance to better opt for the right timing for the ship to undergo a manual hull cleaning and propeller polishing.
The company is currently discovering the pros of Blueye on their vessels; By using this technology they perform more frequent hull inspections and make better visually informed decisions on the vessel’s need for hull/propeller cleaning.
To reduce time and costs of hull inspections we are currently piloting an underwater drone from Blueye on two of our vessels.
Moreover, the company takes part in a research project to use machine learning to predict the state of hull growth based on the type of coating, time since last cleaning, sea water conditions. By looking at the increased fuel consumption after idling we can predict the growth rate of marine organisms, and by adding the sea water temperature as a parameter we can see the change in growth rates between arctic, temperate and tropical waters.
With the help of Blueye drone, the company is using an ultrasound device to prevent the initial growth of biofilm on the propeller. Ultrasound is not the only technical measure to prevent marine growth on hulls, the company adds.
Hull paints and marine coating systems have over the last decades revolutionized the fight against algae and other marine organisms, Development of advanced, high-tech coating solutions that not only consist of several layers of materials with different purposes, but also contain slow-releasing biocides that prevents biofouling.
