Euronavy on the cutting edge of IMO PSPC compliance

London, United Kingdom
2008.07.31

After becoming the first company worldwide to get an IMO PSPC Type Approval from ABS in April 2008, for his ES301 solvent-free epoxy coating system for water ballast tanks, Euronavy is proud to further announce that the same system was also Type Approved by Germanischer Lloyds and Lloyds Register.

The Performance Standard for Protective Coatings for Dedicated Seawater Ballast Tanks of all Types of Ships and Double-Side Skin Spaces of Bulk Carriers, as the new IMO PSPC is fully named, was adopted at the IMO’s Marine Safety Committee meeting NR.82 on December 8th, 2006. These standards are mandatory for all construction contracts of vessels over 500GT signed after July 1st 2008 or whose keel is laid down after January 1st 2009 or with delivery scheduled from July 1st 2012 onward. However, for ships intending to comply with the Common Structural Rules for tankers and bulk carriers agreed by IACS in 2006, the PSPC regulations are applicable to all projects signed after December 8th 2006.

The entrance into force of PSPC aims to guarantee the coating system of ballast tanks on newly built ships a minimum durability of 15 years. This poses an important challenge for both yards and owners as it raises the bar in terms of protection quality. Using traditional coating technologies may imply significant increases in application costs and schedule delays.

EURO-basic ES301® is an unique solvent-free, moisture and surface tolerant coating system that complies with MIL-PRF 23236C standard as Type VII, Class 7 system, meaning that this two-coat, 320 micron total DFT coating system is approved for 20 years service life expectancy in water ballast tanks by US Navy / Navsea. Thanks to the IMO PSPC Type Approvals awarded to ES301, Euronavy is now able to help shipyards and ship owners to cope with PSPC requirements without escalating application costs and schedule delays.
Complete information about ES301 and its IMO PSPC qualification, including system details, technical data sheets and Type Approval Certificates, can be obtained in the PRODUCTS section of this web site, under “EURO-basic ES301 PSPC“.