Hyundai Heavy Group Enhances PC Ship Competitiveness with New Coating Development

Term for re-election shortened from 30 days to 7 days

Hyundai Heavy Industries Group officials are inspecting the paint condition of the cargo hold of a PC ship coated with a new antifouling paint. Photo by Hyundai Heavy Industries Group

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seoyoon] Hyundai Heavy Industries Group has succeeded in developing a coating with excellent chemical resistance, accelerating efforts to strengthen competitiveness in the PC ship (Product Carrier·petrochemical product carrier) sector.

Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering, Hyundai Heavy Industries, and Hyundai Mipo Dockyard recently announced on the 21st that they jointly developed a PC ship coating with significantly enhanced chemical resistance in collaboration with Japan's specialized marine coating company Chugoku Marine Paints (CMP), and applied it for the first time on a vessel built at Hyundai Vietnam Shipyard (HVS). The vessel is a 50,000 DWT-class PC ship, which was delivered to the shipowner in November.

Chemical resistance refers to the degree to which a material can withstand toxic chemical substances, a characteristic essential for coatings used in cargo holds of PC ships that mainly transport petrochemical products.

The coating developed by Hyundai Heavy Industries Group this time features improved chemical resistance compared to existing coatings, increasing the types of petrochemical products that can be transported by more than 40%. Additionally, by increasing the solid content, it reduced volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which cause photochemical smog, by more than 70%.

Generally, coatings applied to PC ship cargo holds are phenolic epoxy coatings, which have low chemical resistance, limiting the types of cargo that can be transported. Although coatings with enhanced chemical resistance using resorcinol diglycidyl ether (RDGE) have been developed overseas, their use has been difficult domestically as they are classified as hazardous chemicals.

However, the newly developed PC ship cargo hold coating by Hyundai Heavy Industries Group enhances chemical resistance without containing carcinogenic substances, allowing use without separate safety training. It also has excellent film recovery after cargo unloading and is easy to clean from contamination. For cargoes like methanol, which easily damage the coating film, the time required before reloading has been reduced from the existing 30 days to 7 days, greatly improving vessel operational efficiency.

Hyundai Heavy Industries Group plans to adopt this coating as the standard for various PC ship cargo holds built by its shipbuilding affiliates.

A Hyundai Heavy Industries Group official said, “With improved operational efficiency of PC ships, interest from shipowners is expected to increase significantly, leading to a substantial rise in demand,” adding, “We will continue to promote ESG management and carbon neutrality realization along with strengthening PC shipbuilding competitiveness through technological development.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.