Nor-Maali paints Carnival’s Celebration

Meyer Turku shipyard delivered cruiseship Carnival Celebration to its customer Carnival Corporation on November 2, 2022. The steel surface coatings were supplied by Nor-Maali Oy together with Jotun.

Carnival Celebration is Carnival Cruise Line’s 50th anniversary ship. It is a sistership to Mardi Gras, which completed in Turku in 2020.

The Carnival Celebration has six different theme zones with lots of activities as well as restaurants and bars. The ship has the shipping company’s largest WaterWorks water park with three twisting water slides, the Bolt rollercoaster, a gym and SportSquare New on Carnival Celebration is the Golden Jubilee bar, which celebrates the diverse history of the shipping company.

Carnival Celebration is 182,800gt, 344m long and 42m wide. The ship has 15 decks and over 2,600 cabins. It is LNG-fuelled, so doesn´t emit sulphur dioxide or fine particulate emissions.

Steel surface coatings from Nor-Maali Oy

Coatings for the steel surfaces on the ship were supplied by Nor-Maali Oy together with Jotun, the world’s largest marine coating supplier. Construction of the ship began in January 2021 and used the yard’s own block production method combined with block production subcontracted from the yard’s partners. Nor-Maali Oy delivered coatings and provided technical support to several countries.

Carnival Celebration´s steel surfaces have been coated with premium products including the epoxy mastic coating Jotamastic 90 and the aliphatic acrylic polyurethane topcoat Hardtop AX. These products were used in several areas across the ship. At some sites, Jotamastic 90 was used as a single coat.

Jotamastic 90 is Jotun’s leading product in its successful Mastic series. The product is a modern version of the original Jotamastic 87, with special attention being paid to the product’s usability and drying times. The product also has top-class corrosion resistance, even on areas where optimum surface preparation is not possible or required.

Hardtop AX is a modern polyurethane topcoat with excellent gloss and colour retention. Carnival Celebration will be exposed to continuous sunshine and seawater in hot Caribbean conditions. Hardtop AX is also an easy-to-apply product, which is important in such a demanding application.

<Crosshead>Decks, corridors and outside provision stores

The ship’s decks, in-service corridor and outside provision store were all coated with glassflake-reinforced Baltoflake, an unsaturated polyester coating. The vessel’s main service corridor in the heart of ship and storage facilities are exposed to constant truck and pump cart traffic, so a coating that can withstand very severe mechanical stress is needed for the deck.

With Baltoflake, a practically maintenance-free surface can be achieved for the entire lifecycle of the ship. The product is applied as a single coat and is ready for use a couple of hours after application, and it lasts. Baltoflake has been used to paint the service corridors of ships built in Finland since the early 2000s, with excellent results.

Tank coatings

A luxury cruiseship has many tanks for different uses. Tank coatings are selected according to the content to be stored. In general, the coating is chosen according to the corrosivity category, the desired durability and the technology available. For example, if blasting is not possible, it sets limitations on the product that can be used. Here are some of the tanks, highlighting their different requirements and the paints used:-

Epoxy mastic coatings

Dedicated ballast water tanks are used to adjust the balance of the ship by either filling or emptying the tanks with seawater. The change in seawater level creates an aggressive corrosion environment due to the salt, oxygen and water present at the changing waterline. The shipbuilding industry around the world currently uses only PSPC-compliant paint systems verified by classification societies for painting ballast tanks, because ballast tank coatings must be IMO PSPC-approved (IMO: International Maritime Organization, PSPC: Performance Standard for Protective Coatings). The aim is that after 15 years, the ballast tank classification will be GOOD (Ri3). To ensure this goal, all paint systems are pre-approved with strict corrosion and cross testing. The dedicated ballast water tanks in Carnival Celebration were painted with Jotamastic 87 Aluminium.

Heeling water tanks are exposed to the same environment as ballast tanks, but are not subject to the same IMO PSPC regulations. However, the paint systems for heeling water tanks are of the same type as for ballast tanks. Carnival Celebration’s heeling water tanks were coated with Jotamastic 90.

Void space tanks are located between the bulkhead and other spaces, forming a double hull structure. In case of ground contact, if the side of the ship is holed, the double hull structure prevents the entire ship from filling with water. As a corrosion environment, void space tanks are quite mild, because basically they just contain dry air. However, there are situations where cold seawater causes water to condense on the inside of the tank, and as a result cyclic water immersion is created. Therefore, special attention should be paid to the surface of the hull plate. In this ship, the void space tanks were painted with Jotamastic 90.

Anchor chains are stored in chain lockers while the ship is sailing. The chain causes very strong mechanical stress on painted surfaces, and these are usually painted either with epoxy as a basic solution (e.g. Jotamastic 90) or with zinc silicate as a premium solution (Resist 86).

Phenolic/novolac epoxy coating Tankguard Storage

Water from machine cooling is directed to the feedwater and cool water drain tanks. These tanks are mainly exposed to hot water when the hot cooling water arrives in the tank and mixes with colder water. Among Jotun products, the best option for the hot water exposure is the polyamine-cured phenol/novolac epoxy coating Tankguard Storage. It withstands continuous immersion in seawater at a temperature of 95 °C.

Glassflake-reinforced epoxy coating Marathon 2:1

Several tanks in Carnival Celebration were coated with the glassflake-reinforced epoxy coating Marathon 2:1. Special properties of the product include excellent adhesion to the substrate, corrosion resistance and heat resistance (continuous seawater immersion at 70 °C). Marathon 2:1 also provides excellent resistance against numerous chemicals. The product is easy to paint and withstands even high film thicknesses without problem. This is important when painting confined tank spaces and it is not possible to spray from an optimal distance. Marathon 2:1 has been successfully used on ships built in Finland since the mid-1990s.

Technical water tanks store laundry water, for example. The washing process produces hot water and the pH is often high due to the detergents used in the laundry. Marathon 2:1 was chosen for these tanks because of its heat and chemical resistance.

Grey water tanks contain water coming from showers and sinks. There are detergents in the water, so Marathon 2:1 was chosen for the tanks to protect against chemical stress.

Treated wastewater tanks are not very aggressive in terms of exposure, but Marathon 2:1 was chosen for these tanks in case of exceptional situations to ensure the necessary resistance. Treated wastewater is purified water from the Advanced Wastewater Purification (AWP) system, which ships can dump into the sea when the ship is more than 12 nautical miles from the coast.

The purpose of the AWP system is to clean the various types of wastewater generated on board. Wastewater is generated from, for example, kitchens, toilets, showers and laundry. After the water has passed through the AWP system, it should meet the regulations given for its values, in which case it can be discharged directly into the sea.

Glassflake-reinforced vinyl ester coating Chemflake Special

Bioreactor, wastewater mixing and bio sludge tanks were painted with Chemflake Special, which is a chemical-resistant glassflake-reinforced vinyl ester coating. The product is specially recommended for areas subject to extreme chemical exposure and mechanical wear and where future maintenance is challenging. In the case of bioreactor, wastewater mixing and bio sludge tanks in Carnival Celebration, Chemflake Special protects structures from very aggressive environmental conditions when the waste forms, e.g. hydrogen sulphide and free fatty acids. Chemflake Special protects against 100% fatty acids.

 Currently, Meyer Turku shipyard is building Royal Caribbean International´s Icon of the Seas, which will be completed this year and TUI’s Mein Schiff 7, which will also be completed in 2024.

] Carnival Celebration on sea trials