Examining the root cause of coating failures

Brookes Bell is a leading multi-disciplinary technical and scientific consultancy serving the marine and energy sectors. Judith Fergus leads the company’s painting and coating division, and with her team, provides independent advice on painting and coating-related problems on everything from newbuild supervision through to vessel drydocking surveys.

Brookes Bell can be instructed by shipowners, charterers, shipyards, P&I Clubs or insurers to conduct investigations into paint defects or coating failures as part of a casualty investigation or forensic analysis, or to provide technical dispute resolution and expert witness testimony.

Our investigations are focused on identifying the root cause of a problem, how to fix it, how to compensate or learn from any underlying issues, and how to prevent any future incidents. Depending on the type of claim and how many vessels are involved, the costs to rectify an issue can run from hundreds to thousands to millions of pounds.

The coating failure might be on a yacht or cargo ship, but all the investigations typically involve a multi-disciplinary approach, and in most cases I will draw on the expertise of my colleagues who include master mariners, engineers, fuel chemists or cargo scientists in the process of my investigations.

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