Proactive hull cleaning

The dominant model for managing hull fouling in shipping has always been reactive. Antifouling coatings are applied at dry dock, the vessel trades, performance degrades and cleaning is eventually scheduled once the penalty becomes visible enough to act on. The cleaning that follows is often aggressive, the coating loses film thickness and the cycle repeats.

A paper titled Proactive Hull Management with Biocide-Free Hard Foul-Release Coatings, presented at HullPIC 2026 by Ryan Ingham, Michael Jacot and Philippos Sfiris from GIT Coatings, documents an attempt to replace that model, and presents one year of operational evidence from a 120m LPG carrier to support the case.

The vessel’s historical trading profile placed it firmly in the high-to-extreme fouling exposure range: approximately 40% activity at sea, around 225 idle days in warm, nutrient-rich waters and frequent calls at ports with high biofouling productivity. Before the vessel’s dry docking, GIT Coatings conducted a biofouling risk assessment using AIS data combined with