Nippon Paint Marine and Lloyd’s Register Advisory Sign Technical Collaboration to Evaluate Hull Coating Performance

Marine coatings leader Nippon Paint Marine and Lloyd’s Register Advisory, a leading independent ship performance consultancy, have entered into a technical collaboration agreement to evaluate the long-term speed loss performance of Nippon Paint Marine’s FASTAR and AQUATERRAS coatings.

Through this partnership, Lloyd’s Register Advisory will conduct an independent performance assessment to validate the coatings’ durability and efficiency over time. The findings will serve as a benchmark for evaluating coating and vessel performance, supporting data-driven decision-making for future vessel maintenance and coating selection.

The project encompasses a diverse fleet of vessels coated with FASTAR or AQUATERRAS, including container ships, bulk carriers, tankers, VLCCs, PCCs, and cruise vessels. Since hull fouling varies with route and operational profile, assessing a wide range of vessel types is essential to accurately measure speed loss, fuel efficiency, and emissions reduction, helping shipowners select the most suitable coating solutions.

To build a validated performance database, Lloyd’s Register will integrate multiple data sources—such as noon reports, high-frequency vessel data, AIS tracking, and metocean information—in line with the ISO 19030 standard. This process isolates environmental resistance factors to accurately determine coating performance and quantify hull degradation’s contribution to speed loss.

The collaboration will focus on Nippon Paint Marine’s flagship coatings:

• AQUATERRAS, the world’s first biocide-free fouling protection coating, featuring patented polymer technology and hydrophilic/hydrophobic micro-domain structures.

• FASTAR, a low-friction, self-polishing antifouling coating, utilises advanced nanodomain resin technology as part of the HydroSmoothXT™ range.

Goh Chung Hun, Lloyd’s Register Strategic Business Partner (Singapore), commented, “We look forward to working with Nippon Paint Marine to develop this technical collaboration and realise an independent assessment for their hull coating performance. Our technical expertise and impartiality underpin our commitment to delivering analyses to the highest standard. We are delighted that Nippon Paint Marine has placed their trust in us to provide a performance verification assessment of their hull coatings.”

Gladys Goh, President of Nippon Paint Marine, commented, “We are committed to helping our customers to achieve their net-zero carbon ambitions, and deliver efficiencies and sustainability within their operations. Trust and proof in performance and return on investment is a critical element in driving the uptake of clean technologies across the shipping industry. Working with Lloyd’s Register to rigorously verify the effectiveness of our hull coatings solutions is an essential step in this process. Our technical collaboration with Lloyd’s Register will provide the insight and guidance to our customers, which will provide them with the confidence that they need and help them to choose the right hull coatings for their vessels and fleets, tailored to their operating conditions and in line with their sustainability strategies.”

By demonstrating measurable reductions in fuel consumption and emissions, this initiative underscores the critical role of advanced hull coatings in supporting maritime decarbonisation. Nippon Paint Marine remains committed to helping shipowners achieve their energy efficiency and sustainability goals through innovative, high-performance coating solutions.

Source: Nippon Paints Marine