Sherwin-Williams Coatings Protect Brazil's First Oil Tanker in 14 Years
Sherwin-Williams Is Playing A Strategic Role In The Fortunes of The Shipbuilder Atlantico SUL, Which This Summer Launched Brazil's First Ship In 14 Years.
CLEVELAND (September 30, 2010) - At a time when the shipbuilding industry is undergoing a renaissance in Brazil, Sherwin-Williams is playing a strategic role in the fortunes of the shipbuilder Atlntico Sul, which this summer launched Brazil's first ship in 14 years, João Candido, under the Brazilian government's Program for Modernization and Expansion of the Fleet (PROMEF).
In a ceremony attended by Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the 150,000 dwt tanker left drydock following the closure of its hull and was rolled out to sea to finish for December delivery. It is the first of a series of 22 ships that are already on the shipyard's order book, along with the hull of the P-55 platform of Brazilian oil giant Petrobras, according to Angelo Alberto Bellelis, Atlntico Sul president.
Sherwin-Williams' Euronavy ES301 coating system is protecting the new ship's ballast tanks, and the coating is a significant factor in the shipyard's productivity as it fulfills its contract to build ten Suezmax (able to carry up to one million barrels of oil) tankers under PROMEF for Petrobras.
Atlntico Sul is the first of a number of new shipyards coming on line to meet Petrobras' surging demand for ships. Keeping up with that demand requires innovative approaches to shortening building schedules, and Sherwin-Williams has been driving that innovation. Using the ES301 coating technology, Atlntico Sul has been able to double its productivity in terms of square meters of surface prepared. Construction of João Candido occurred while the shipyard itself was being completed.
Typically secondary surface preparation at the block stage involves abrasive blasting to prepare steel surfaces and weld seams prior to topcoating. Euronavy ES301 can accomplish the same task using ultra-high-pressure (UHP) water jetting, or hydroblasting, which saves shipbuilders time and money. Petrobras pioneered the concept of combining hydroblasting and coatings that are solvent-free and tolerant of humidity across the operations of Transpetro, its shipowner subsidiary. Now Transpetro considers ES301 hydroblasting the new standard for coating in the shipping industry.
A further advantage is the chemistry of the Euronavy pre-construction primer, which is zinc-free. The primer is applied before undertaking block construction as a precaution against flash rust on the steel following its initial pass through an automated abrasive blasting system. Typical primers contain zinc dust; zinc primers are more expensive than epoxy primers because zinc is a commodity so its price fluctuates, making it difficult for shipyards to project costs. Euronavy PE 31 PCP has a lower cost projection and was the first non-zinc product to be IMO PSPC-type approved.
Sherwin-Williams is a global protective and marine coatings company that delivers smarter asset protection and unmatched service and specification support to its customers from 5,500 locations worldwide. The company offers a complete line of time-tested, high performance coatings and systems to combat corrosion, supported by the largest group of NACE-certified coatings inspectors in the industry. With more than 140 years in business and a culture of product innovation, Sherwin-Williams today is the single source of supply for coatings solutions made to your specifications and delivered on time, every time.
Atlntico Sul Shipyard, established in November of 2005 through a partnership between the groups Camargo Corrêa, Queiroz Galvão, Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) from South Korea, and PJMR, is the biggest and most modern naval and offshore construction and repair shipyard in the Southern Hemisphere. It is considered a landmark in the reactivation of the shipbuilding industry of Brazil, resulting from an investment of R$ 1.4 billion, with a built-in processing capacity of the order of 160 thousand tons of steel per year. The company manufactures all types of carrier vessels of up to 500 TDW, as well as offshore platforms of the semi-submersible type, FPSO (Floating Production, Storage, and Off-loading), TLP (Tension-Leg Platforms) and SPAR, among others. Atlntico Sul also offers a vast range of repair services for vessels and oil exploration units, taking advantage of the yard's strategic and privileged location in relation to the global maritime carriage and the large deep water oil & gas production fields.
Contact:
Molly Borchers of Fahlgren Mortine Public Relations,
614 383-1626
molly.borchers@fahlgren.com
