Baleària joins AkzoNobel carbon scheme

Baleària has enrolled its passenger ferry Martin i Soler into the scheme, which was developed in 2014 in conjunction with the Gold Standard Foundation. The programme is based on ship owners converting existing vessels from a biocidal antifouling system to a premium, biocide-free advanced hull coating such as Intersleek, part of AkzoNobel’s International line of marine coatings, said to reduce fuel consumption, and hence reduce CO₂ emissions.

Martin i Soler was converted from an existing silyl biocidal antifouling to Intersleek1100SR back in November 2013. The vessel’s performance was monitored over the following 12 months and showed a 12% improvement in fuel efficiency, which Baleària says equate to a reduction of 15 tonnes of CO₂ per day.

“We decided to use the new technology due to the fuel saving potential and the positive environmental image of using biocide-free technology on our passenger vessels in the Mediterranean Sea,” said Guillermo Alomar, managing fleet director, Baleària.

“The performance improvement was immediately apparent and analysis of the first year of sailing data confirms a significant fuel saving of over 12%,” he added.

The company says it intends to use the carbon credits as evidence of the ferry operator’s commitment to reducing its impact on the environment and to aid investment in its other vessels.

Baleària joins a growing number of companies that have enrolled into the second round of carbon credit claims – AkzoNobel’s first claim, worth almost US$500,000 for 17 vessels is being audited now – and it is anticipated that the first credits will be issued shortly.

“We are very pleased with the positive response to our carbon credits programme. Based on the 100 eligible ships already converted from a biocidal antifouling to Intersleek technology, there is an estimated US$2.8m worth of carbon credits potentially available to ship owners and operators,” concluded Oscar Wezenbeek, director, marine coatings, AkzoNobel.