Hempel Reinforces Bunker, CO2 Savings Potential of Marine Coatings

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Friday June 1, 2018

Hempel is the latest firm to respond to renewed industry interest in reducing bunker costs and vessel emissions in the wake of rising oil prices and MEPC 72.

The marine coatings manufacturer Thursday said it had hit a milestone by applying the one thousandth full-vessel coating of its Hempaguard solution, in the process saving customs hundreds of millions of dollars in bunker costs over five and a half years the product had been on the market.

"Collectively, the owners of these 1000 vessels have reduced their annual bunker bill by more than USD 400 million. This corresponds to a reduction in CO2 emissions of more than three million tonnes every year," the company claimed.

The comments come 19 months ahead of the IMO 2020 rule, which will see the global sulfur cap on marine fuel fall to 0.50% from January 1, 2020. The new cap is expected to result in a significant uptick in bunker costs as the majority of buyers switch to low sulfur MGO for compliance.

Also on the minds of owner / operators are decisions made in April at MEPC 72, where the industry pledged to reduce its total annual GHG emissions at least 50% by 2050 compared to 2008, while at the same time pursuing efforts towards phasing them out entirely.