The rudders of a large number of vessels where coated with Ecoshield over the last two months. The applications were carried out in China, Singapore, Turkey and South-Korea on different types of ships. Among the vessels treated were several newbuild container vessels, crude oil tankers, roro vessels and Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability tankers (MARS).
Ecoshield has been tested on rudders since 2002 with extraordinary results. Just last month a container vessel drydocked in Zhoushan, China. The ship had been sailing with Ecoshield on its rudder for five years and, as expected, the coating was still in excellent condition. The owner of vessel was very satisfied with the result and said that ‘Ecoshield works!’ This was one of the first rudders this owner had coated with Ecoshield. Since then a large part of his fleet’s rudders have been given the same protection. Among these are the newbuild container vessels coated last month. They are part of a large series with more to come in the coming months.
Protection from day one
With an Ecoshield application the underwater gear will not need to be repainted during future drydockings. For this reason protection of the running gear is best begun at the newbuild phase. Ecoshield is guaranteed for ten years and will remain intact for the lifetime of the vessel. At the most, quick and easy touch-ups amounting to less than 1% of the surface area will be required.
The newbuild phase is the perfect time to apply Ecoshield. The coating can however also be used to protect vessels that have been in service for some time and are already facing cavitation and corrosion damage.
The only coating that offers lasting protection for running gear
Ecoshield is not only suited for rudders. The coating also offers full and lasting protection for thrusters, azimuth thrusters, azipods, thruster nozzles, kort nozzles, thruster tunnels and other underwater ship gear which needs the best possible protection against corrosion. For this reason the propeller enhancement fins of several of the container vessels were also coated with Ecoshield, as was the thruster tunnel of the roro vessels and the nozzle of the crude oil tankers.
Conclusion
More and more owners have Ecoshield applied on the rudders and other running gear of a large part of their fleet or have it included in the rudder specs of their newbuild vessels. These owners invest in the right coating system for protection because they know the savings it will bring them.
“Jo”
