Shiprepair & Maintenance: 1st quarter 2017
Specifically developed for onboard maintenance, Jotun’s Smart Pack system consists of two products, Jotamastic Smart Pack and a topcoat, Hardtop Smart Pack. This Smart Pack system is designed to be surface tolerant, easy to mix due to its 1:1 mixing ratio and specifically designed for brush and roller application, which is the normal application method for onboard maintenance.
Jørgen Grimmert Langås, global marketing manager, SeaStock/DryDock, Jotun Marine Coatings, says: “The Smart Pack system enables you to easily mix what you need and therefore reduces waste. The improved flow properties, along with the surface tolerance, prolongs the maintenance intervals and so reduces consumption in the longer term. Furthermore, these products do not need to be thinned before application by brush and roller.”
Laboratory tests are said to show at least twice the maintenance interval with the Jotamastic Smart Pack, compared with brush or roller applied high quality epoxy paint. “This is due to having a more even and solid paint film with less weak areas, such as pinholes, entrapped air and valleys,” says Langås.
As a complement to Smart Pack, Jotun is this March launching a new value for money system, as a direct response to the tough trading conditions in the shipping market. Jotafix, also specifically designed for brush and roller application, consists of an epoxy mastic primer and a polyurethane topcoat. “Through this launch we will have onboard maintenance systems in both the premium and the commercial ends of the market, and both systems are 100% independent of drydocking,” says Langås.
Jotamastic Smart Pack is now Jotun’s leading primer for onboard maintenance and demand for Hardtop Smart Pack, which was introduced just a few years ago, is rapidly catching up. “As for Jotafix, we have signed our first major contracts, prior to the system actually having been launched. I think that say something about the demand for such products,” says Langås.
While using Smart Pack saves money in the long run, the full effect of longer maintenance intervals takes a while to be appreciated. More recently short term savings have become more important for owners, Jotun notes, and so the price-per-litre has become a key determining factor. This is the reason for the development of the Jotafix system, which offers many of the same qualities as the Smart Pack, but at lower cost.
