Owners can earn money from coatings

International, part of AkzoNobel, has partnered with carbon credits issuer The Gold Standard in a scheme that is a first for the marine industry. Under the scheme, ships where a biocide-based antifouling is replaced with International’s Intersleek 1100SR, can earn carbon credits based on the fuel saving resulting from changing to this biocide-free slime release fouling control technology.

The company stresses that this initiative differs significantly from market based measures and carbon trading schemes that have been previously discussed. When a ship converts to Intersleek, the owner or operator provides International with data, based on noon reports, for before and after applying the coating. The data are then analysed to establish fuel savings attributable to the coating, and International submits a claim to The Gold Standard on behalf of all its customers signed up to the scheme. This analysis is verified by UN-accredited independent auditors, and The Gold Standard validates and issues carbon credits. These credits are distributed by International to its customers, after covering the costs of administering the scheme.

Credits may be used to offset carbon emissions from the customer’s other activities, such as land-based offices, may be passed on to third parties such as customers of charities, or sold in the marketplace. According to The Gold Standard a large number of blue-chip companies are actively buying carbon credits, and those collected using approved Gold Standard methodologies – such as the marine coatings scheme – carry higher than average values.

International quotes an example of a ro-ro ferry converted to Intersleek in 2011, which has generated 18,000 carbon credits over the three year period – 4,678 in the first year, 5,542 in the second and 7,750 in the third. The reason for the increase is that the fuel saving over biocide coatings increases with time. The company has already submitted its first claim from eligible ships already coated with Intersleek, and told us that this amounted to 70,000 credits, i.e. 70,000 tonnes of CO2 saved. This is equivalent to a fuel saving of 22,000 tonnes, and the 70,000 credits have a value in the region of US$400,000, which International will distribute to its customers.

The scheme operates over a standard five year docking period, and a ship ceases to be eligible when it is re-coated or if any other energy saving devices are fitted, which would make the savings due to Intersleek difficult to quantify.

International and The Gold Standard are aware of this limitation, and believe that as carbon trading becomes accepted and widespread in the maritime industry, the basic methodology can be further developed to encourage other energy saving technologies. It is, however, the responsibility of the promoters of the technologies to quantify fuel savings and environmental benefits and work with the carbon credit providers and independent auditors to establish sound methods of measurement, recording and validation that will ensure credits generated can be properly valued.

Intersleek market manager John Willsher said that International has spent more than two years developing the carbon credits methodology as part of its research into making eco-efficiency technologies more accessible for the wider shipping industry. The company chose to work with The Gold Standard Foundation because it is the highest quality and most trusted carbon certification standard with rigorous sustainability benchmarks over three categories; environmental, social and economic, as well as technological.

The environmental credentials for Intersleek technology have been established through an eco-efficiency analysis conducted according to ISO14040 and ISO14044 and independently validated by the Swedish Environmental Research Institute.

“This landmark methodology enables ship owners and operators to benefit twice when they invest in Intersleek technology. Firstly, they can increase operational, environmental and energy efficiencies, which reduces fuel costs and emissions and then they can reap the additional financial benefits of carbon credits, which we will share with them. We will also handle all the administrative requirements, so customers don’t have to invest time, capital or resource in generating the carbon credits,” said Trevor Solomon, Intersleek business manager.

In another recent development, International has launched Intertrac, a software system that overlays global oceanic and coastal foul risk assessments for any vessel, to tailor hull coatings applications to specific vessel operations. Intertrac overlays AIS-derived route, speed and location data with a comprehensive fouling challenge data set enabling coating specifications to be tailored specifically to suit an individual vessel’s operations and trading routes. This is claimed to ensure effective cost management for hull coatings, as well as maximising operational efficiencies.