Monna Lisa gets sustainable coating, thanks to AkzoNobel
International, AkzoNobel’s marine coatings brand, has announced it’s painting over the Monna Lisa. Not, as keen spellers will realise, the Leonardo da Vinci painting housed in the Louvre, this Mona is actually a cable-laying vessel owned by Prysmian. It’s to be coated in the Intergard 7500 primer and Intersmooth 7465Si antifouling solution.
Monna Lisa will be the second new-build vessel owned by Prysmian that will be applied by coatings from International. Prysmian says the decision to choose both coatings for the vessel was to help meet its sustainability commitments during construction and in operation. Monna Lisa is expected to enter into service at the beginning of 2025.
“The selection of marine coatings is one of the several areas where the Monna Lisa is setting new benchmarks in terms of environmental footprint,” says Leoni Davide, new building vessel manager at Prysmian. “Thanks for the good collaboration with AkzoNobel and Vard Group [shipbuilders], we at Prysmian are proud to introduce Intergard 7500 to the European market with our Monna Lisa vessel.”
AkzoNobel reckons that the decision will reduce the vessel’s carbon emissions by 672 tonnes over the dry docking period, and lower Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) by more than 11 tonnes during construction.
By using Intergard 7500, a high solids universal primer solution, the shipyard can reduce VOC emissions during application and significantly decrease packaging by eliminating over 1,000 waste tins. It’s an aluminium containing pure epoxy product, which AkzoNobel says offers superior corrosion protection and abrasion resistance. This then leads to significant maintenance cost savings for shipowners compared to other modified epoxy universal primers, especially when applied during newbuilding.
Meanwhile, the catchily named Intersmooth 74765Si, the chosen fouling control solution, is a low friction self polishing copolymer antifouling, which will keep a smooth clean hull in operation for the owner, minimising fuel consumption and associated CO2 emissions.
“As our customers continue to search for more sustainable solutions to help meet their decarbonisation goals, we are pleased to officially introduce our high-performing, universal primer, Intergard 7500 solution to the European market,” says Primoz Pungartnik, regional commercial director, marine and protective coatings EMEA at AkzoNobel. “This has a volume of solids of 80 per cent and VOC of 298g/lt, which is 17 per cent higher solids and 37 per cent less VOC than the previously used primer.
“Now in the European market, the Monna Lisa will be the first of many vessels to choose Intergard 7500 as shipyards look to reduce their environmental footprint, while increasing overall shipyard productivity whilst ship owners look to reduce through-life maintenance costs.”
Previously MIN reported that AkzoNobel had calculated, over the past 10 years, over 41 million tonnes of CO2 have been saved with Intersleek 1100SR, and the coating has slashed ship fuel bills by $8bn.
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