Ecospeed protection for Canadian ice-class ferry
A Canadian ice-class ferry has been coated with Ecospeed to give it full, long-lasting protection against damage from impact with ice while transporting passengers between the Canadian cities of Lévis and Québec.
The Ecospeed brand, owned by Subsea Industries, part of Belgium’s Hydrex Underwater Technology, is an environmentally safe underwater ship hull coating system which provides the vessel with long-term protection and dramatically improves the ship’s performance.
The Lomer-Gouin is an 88m, 4,233 tonne ice-class passenger ferry owned by the Société des Traversiers du Québec (STQ).
Under normal operation, ferries have to drydock once a year to comply with classification regulations and this is normally done off season when there are fewer passengers. This short drydocking times give ferry operators little opportunity to take all the hull maintenance steps required to reduce fuel consumption.
The benefit of Ecospeed though is that it helps to increase fuel efficiency in between dockings. The smoothness attained by the coating provides best hydrodynamic conditions for the vessel to operate at maximum efficiency. In the case of ice-going ferries, Ecospeed has apparently been shown to be the lowest friction ice class coating available.
It’s especially suitable for ferries which sail on a fixed route. This is because the ports they visit don’t change so the turnaround time is known in advance. Knowing the exact schedule makes it possible to implement a stricter underwater maintenance programme.
Ecospeed hull protection will also be applied to the ferry M/V Hebrides, a Caledonian MacBrayne ferry which sails in the Northern part of Scotland from Uig to Tarbert and Lochmaddy.
Related Articles
ACCESSORIES & EQUIPMENT
ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS
VESSELS