AkzoNobel Launches Bunker Savings Prediction Tool for Cruise Ships

Akzo Nobel tool utilizing Big Data has been extended to cruise ships, and will eventually work for LNG powered ships as well. 

Paint and coatings manufacturer AkzoNobel Friday announced that cruise vessels would be added to its "big data" tool, Intertrac Vision, that predicts fuel and CO2 savings from the use of fouling control coatings prior to their application.

The new version of the free Intertrac Vision will help determine the most effective and appropriate coatings solution for each vessel within a fleet of cruise vessels, the company says.

"Hull coatings play a key role in the profitability and sustainability of these vessels due to the fuel and CO2 savings that can be delivered," said Michael Hindmarsh, Project Lead, Intertrac Vision.

"Through Intertrac Vision, we can provide cruise vessel owners with tangible proof of the ROI from the comparison of fouling control coatings prior to application. In doing so, we can support the long term profitability and sustainability of the cruise industry.

"Furthermore, as part of the continued evolution of Intertrac Vision, we expect to add LNG vessels to the technology shortly."

First launched in October 2015 and said to cover more than 85 percent of the world's deep-sea fleet market, the product combines an understanding of total hull "roughness" associated with biofouling, and uses studies carried out by computational fluid dynamics on different hull forms in order to make accurate predictions on the impact of fouling control coatings on a vessel.

Intertrac Vision compiles hundreds of thousands of datasets, according to AkzoNobel.

In February of 2015 Ship & Bunker reported that Alzo Nobel had announced more than $500,000 in carbon credits were available for bunker-saving coatings.