The M/T Fionia Swan chemical and oil tanker achieves 4-5 per cent fuel savings with HEMPAGUARD®X7
Owned by the Danish-based liquid cargo transporter Uni-Tankers, the M/T Fionia Swan is a 15,000 DWT Ice 1A tanker designed for carrying oil and liquid chemicals. Six months after switching to the fouling defence coating HEMPAGUARD X7, the Fionia Swan has seen excellent fuel savings. As a result, Uni-Tankers has committed to converting more vessels to HEMPAGUARD X7 in the future.
The Fionia Swan had HEMPAGUARD X7 appliedin September 2013. The application process, carried out with the assistance of Hempel’s Technical Service team, was smooth and swift.
HEMPAGUARD X7 has helped deliver direct fuel savings of 4-5 per cent and, in certain loading conditions, this has increased to 8 per cent. I am extremely happy with this positive performance and will apply HEMPAGUARD X7 to an additional four vessels over the coming months.Jan Rindebæk, CTO, Uni-Tankers
The challenge
A Danish-based shipping company, Uni-Tankers is dedicated to transporting liquid cargoes in a safe and secure manner while protecting the environment. The company wanted an efficient hull coating for its vessel the Fionia Swan that would deliver both significant fuel savings and reductions in associated C02 emissions. It chose HEMPAGUARD X7, which delivers the promised reductions, without releasing unnecessary biocides into the marine environment.
The solution
The Fionia Swan was brought into the Remontowa Shipyard in Gdansk, Poland, in September 2013. The flat bottom and vertical sides of the hull were grit-blasted and 1,540 litres of HEMPAGUARD X7 were applied. All the application work was done with the assistance of Hempel’s Technical Service team to ensure a fast and efficient application process, and in total the full blasting and final curing took nine days.
Uni-Tankers carefully monitored the performance of the Fionia Swan, paying particular attention to fuel consumption, from September 2013 to February 2014. During that time, the coating demonstrated direct fuel savings of 4-5 per cent, and the vessel saw fuel savings of up to 8 per cent in certain loading conditions when trim adjustments had been made.
Integrating silicone-hydrogel and full diffusion control of biocides in a single coat, HEMPAGUARD X7 releases 95 per cent less biocide than traditional antifoulings and yet still delivers better fouling control. And, as HEMPAGUARD X7 reduces a vessel’s fuel consumption and associated C02 emissions, it has enabled Uni-Tankers to both improve operating efficiency and environmental performance.
The only coating of its kind to come with a fuel performance guarantee, customer satisfaction guarantee and idle time guarantee of up to 120 idle days, HEMPAGUARD X7 delivers up to 60 months of efficient fouling control and average fuel savings of six per cent over the full docking interval.
Also, unlike regular hull coatings, which are usually specified according to the vessel’s speed and activity level, HEMPAGUARD X7 retains its effectiveness when switching between slow and fast steaming. This enables the Fionia Swan to change sailing routes and trading patterns without losing performance.
After seeing the fuel saving benefits of HEMPAGUARD X7 on the Fionia Swan, Uni-Tankers have already applied the coatings to three more vessels: the M/T Alsia Swan, the M/T Samus Swan and the M/T Erria Swan.
At a glance
| Company: | Uni-Tankers |
| Vessel name: | Fionia Swan |
| IMO number: | 9328974 |
| Coating system: | Hempaguard X7 |
| Date of application: | September 2013 |
| Location: | Remontowa Shipyard, Gdansk, Poland |
| Vessel areas: | Flat bottom and vertical sides |
| Technical Service agreement: | Premium |
