New Journal of Ship Hull Performance And White Papers Launched By Hydrex Group

Online, February 7, 2011 (Newswire.com) - A new quarterly Journal of Ship Hull Performance and series of White Papers has been launched by Hydrex Group with a view to informing shipowners, ship operators, navies, interested government officials, port authorities, maritime institutions and media of the latest developments and state of the art in underwater ship hull protection, hull coatings, hull maintenance, underwater ship repair and all matters related to maintaining the underwater hull at optimum performance while protecting the marine environment and reducing GHG emissions.

Hydrex Group, with main offices in Belgium and the USA, has over 35 years of experience in all aspects of underwater hull fouling control, hull maintenance and underwater ship repair. Hydrex has developed and tested a system, Ecospeed, which combines a completely non-toxic hard coating which lasts the lifetime of the ship, with routine, advanced in-water hull cleaning. The coating is classified as a Surface Treated Composite (STC) which consists of relatively large glass platelets in a vinyl ester resin base. It is applied in two coats on a grit-blasted hull to a dry film thickness of 1000 microns. Once conditioned by an in-water brushing process, the coating provides a very smooth, extremely hard yet flexible protection lasting the life of the ship, requiring only minor touch-ups. The surface improves in hydrodynamic performance with each in-water cleaning.

The quarterly Journal of Ship Hull Performance was launched in January 2011 as a vehicle for information from Hydrex and from leaders in the sphere of underwater hull performance, academics, researchers and other experts on related subjects: hull coatings, hull monitoring and inspection, cleaning, repair; business issues such as how to keep a hull at optimum performance and garner huge savings in fuel; environmental issues such as the effects of biocides on the marine environment and the food chain, the control of non-indigenous species, and how to reduce GHG emissions from shipping through best practice fouling control methods.

A new series of White Papers on underwater hull performance was launched by Hydrex Group at the end of 2010. The first two White Papers in the series have been published: Hydrex White Paper No. 1, Ship Hull Performance in the Post-TBT Era: How to save money while improving hull performance and dramatically reducing environmental impact; Hydrex White Paper No 2, The Slime Factor: Shipowners/operators can gain enormous savings through advanced underwater hull maintenance technology. These two White Papers have already been circulated widely and received instant acclaim from maritime industry leaders and professionals. Upcoming White Paper subjects will cover such subjects as in-water cleaning in ports, a comparison of hull coatings, avoiding drydock, biocides in antifoulants, reducing NOx, SOx and CO2 emissions, corrosion and cavitation protection, coatings for the ice, protecting inland waterways, eliminating the spread of non-indigenous species and other related issues.

The quarterly Journal of Ship Hull Performance and the Hydrex White Papers are provided free of charge by Hydrex to maritime industry decision makers, institutions and media in both digital form and/or printed copies through the mail. Anyone in the industry or related companies or organizations may subscribe to the Journal and/or the White Papers here: http://eepurl.com/ck9Tb

Boud Van Rompay, founder of Hydrex, said: "We have a tremendous amount of experience and technology, developed over the last 35 years, tested and proven, which needs to be shared with all those in the industry and in government who have an interest in gaining optimum performance and at the same time reducing adverse environmental effects of ships, as this relates to the underwater hull. Hence the White Papers and the Journal of Ship Hull Performance."

A new website, www.ShipHullPerformance.org, will also be launched shortly for ease of dissemination of the White Papers, Journal of Ship Hull Performance and related material. Its launch will be announced within two weeks.

ABOUT HYDREX:
The Hydrex Group, a leading international underwater hull performance, protection, maintenance and repair organization. Not only has Hydrex developed Ecospeed as the ideal underwater hull coating, but has also invented and engineered a full line of advanced hydraulic underwater hull cleaning equipment designed specially to condition and clean Ecospeed-coated hulls but which is also usable on any other hull coating. Hydrex has a network of service stations around the world to deliver underwater hull monitoring, inspection, repair and maintenance where it is needed by global customers. www.hydrex.be

ABOUT ECOSPEED:
Ecospeed® is a patented system of underwater hull protection which combines a glass platelet, vinyl ester resin based coating and regular in-water cleaning to keep any ship hull operating at maximum performance. Ecospeed coating classifies as a Surface Treated Composite (STC) and is available from Hydrex, an international company specializing in underwater ship protection and maintenance and repair. www.ecospeed.be