Better data, technology and collaboration are improving ship performance and biofouling management, but more transparency between stakeholders, continuous sharing of learnings and the development of new competencies are needed to drive sustainable outcomes across the industry argue experts at HullPIC.
For the 11th year running, industry representatives attended the Hull Performance and Insight Conference (HullPIC), held in Certosa di Pontignano, Italy. Co-founded by coatings supplier Jotun and VB conferences, and supported by industry-wide companies, the three-day conference covered the latest developments in ship performance and biofouling management.
In his opening address, Volker Bertram (DNV) noted that hull management remains one of the biggest levers for improving ship fuel efficiency, with rising fuel costs and mandatory emission surcharges such as EU ETS keeping it firmly in the spotlight. He also pointed to growing attention on biofouling prevention, following the IMO’s announcement that voluntary biofouling management guidelines are to become mandatory regulations.
Addressing regulatory and commercial pressures
“Discussing developments in ship performance, technologies and practical solutions are of great interest and value to the industry, and even more so in light of the regulatory and commercial pressures that are impacting shipping trades, fuel prices and the environment,” said Jotun’s Morten Sten Johansen. “There is a sense that the industry, while moving in small steps, is steadily converging on better answers to longstanding questions.”
Johansen called for evidence-based performance claims in the marine coatings sector. “Speed loss credibility matters because there is a growing disconnect between reported, claimed figures that introduce operational and regulatory risk. This not only affects individual vessels but may also distort fleet-level decarbonisation strategies”, he warned, stressing the need to use a common assessment methodology such as ISO 19030 applied through independent review.
David Pang (Swire Shipping) presented a cost-benefit analysis of hull coatings across Swire’s fleet, arguing that decarbonisation efforts must bridge the gap between laboratory performance and operational reality. Several further presentations addressed data-driven optimisation, covering trim, data sampling and a new ISO 25817 initiative on fuel consumption evaluation. Hamed Vaseghnia (Jotun) advocated for CFD-based digital frameworks as alternatives to purely empirical methods for vessel rating and performance assessments.
Falko Fritz (Albis Marine Performance) drew on 13 years of high-frequency monitoring data to highlight an 11 to 12 percentage point gap in hull overconsumption between two operators using identical monitoring systems. “The problem isn’t the tool,” said Fritz. “It’s the combination of commercial incentives, data discipline, and organisational willingness to act.” At roughly US$ 400,000 per percentage point per year across a 25-vessel fleet, the stakes are considerable.
Fuel costs and ETS driving energy efficiency investments
A survey carried out by Richard Marioth (Idealship) during the conference drew over 80 responses from a broad cross-section of the industry. In a ranking exercise on the key drivers of energy efficiency investment, fuel costs and ETS emerged as the dominant trigger, with 56% ranking it first. Regulatory compliance ranked second, charter attractiveness third, and environmental responsibility last, suggesting that financial and regulatory pressure remain the primary commercial drivers.
On investment posture, close to 47% favoured investing soon to cut costs, while 37% preferred acting immediately to stay ahead of regulation. Almost no one recommended deferring major investments, indicating the industry has moved beyond a wait-and-see mentality. Hull condition and fouling assessment was identified as the most relevant use case for vessel performance management, with 50% of responses, followed by operational optimisation of routing and speed at around 28%.
Open-ended survey responses revealed a range of unresolved challenges. Microfouling remains underestimated, the divergence between diver inspection findings and ship data persists, and fundamental methods have changed little over 25 years. Frustration was expressed that sensors, data systems and methods are rarely used for the purpose they were originally designed for. Transparency was a recurring theme: widely agreed to be necessary, but uncertainty about who is actually prepared to provide.
End-user focus: from data to actionable insights
The conference concluded with a panel forum featuring Martin Koepke (Hapag Lloyd), Elgan Moses (TUI Cruises), Falko Fritz (Albis) and Richard Marioth (Idealship). A central message came from Moses: “Solution providers must keep the end user in mind. Captains and chief engineers do not care about model sophistication or technical terminology. What matters is whether output is simple, accessible and actionable. He proposed reframing the conference’s phrase “insights as a service” as “useful and actionable insights as a service.” The cruise industry, he noted, now faces data oversaturation, with 80,000 data points per vessel at five-second intervals and tools that, despite massive investment, are not being used. The human element is consistently underestimated.
The forum also explored how far the industry has come in bridging two traditionally separate worlds: bio-fouling inspection and cleaning on one side, and data-driven performance monitoring on the other. The views differed notably between panellists. Fritz rated the integration at around five out of ten, citing a specific case where a hull inspection had predicted roughly double the overconsumption that performance data actually revealed. Both sides agreed fouling was present but disagreed substantially on its severity. Koepke was more optimistic, placing the maturity closer to eight out of ten, arguing that for companies with robust data systems, visual inspection reports now align well with what the data shows.
AI, predictive tools and charter party reform
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) were recurring themes throughout the conference. The panel’s view was measured: both are useful tools but are currently overhyped. Physics remains the necessary foundation. Marioth argued the ML community should be held to the same documentation standards as CFD practitioners, describing the architecture, training data and safeguards used, so that others can evaluate the method rather than accept a black-box output. On ISO 19030, the panel was cautious about introducing ML into a regulatory framework, though open to the idea that ML might outperform traditional ITTC formulas for specific vessel types if the methodology is transparent.
On what comes next, the panel identified two frontiers. First, whole-voyage logistics: ships racing across oceans to wait in port queues represent, as Fritz put it, a performance killer of the first order, and one that no amount of hull optimisation can offset. The hope was expressed that regulations and commercial incentives will push owners and charterers to address this systemic inefficiency together.
Second, and more animated in discussion, was charter party reform. Current contracts are, in Bertram’s words, copy-pasted from generations ago and ill-suited to modern performance monitoring. They typically define performance at a single operating point, bear little relation to the actual physics of vessel operation, and make it virtually impossible to bring meaningful claims except in extreme cases. The suggestion was for classification societies or ship operator associations to develop a standardised template covering performance monitoring across a realistic operational profile, rewarding well-performing operators rather than well-represented ones.
The panel agreed that the financial cost of emissions through mechanisms such as EU ETS is already improving data quality by creating a shared commercial interest in accurate measurement. Accuracy now has a direct monetary value: a systematic bias of a few percent in fuel consumption has a clear bottom-line consequence, and that alignment of incentives is beginning to drive improvement from within organisations.
Closing reflections
The forum closed in a spirit of genuine collegiality, reflecting on what makes HullPIC distinctive: the willingness of competitors, customers and partners to share knowledge openly, and the sense that the industry is steadily moving in the right direction through better data and deeper insights.
“One of the biggest opportunities for further enhancing vessel performance is closing the gap between observation and impact,” said Malte Mittendorf (Mærsk Line) and added, “As an industry, we collect extensive performance data and underwater inspection reports, but they often exist in parallel. By improving data accuracy and directly linking hull condition observations to the vessel’s performance history, we can move from reactive fouling response to predictive as well as value‑based decision-making.”
Echoing the need for a predictive approach, Vivek Nair (Seaspan Ship Management) said, “The broader shipping industry has rapidly embraced condition-based maintenance and predictive models for engine rooms and onboard machinery, yet we continue to treat the hull, the single largest factor in fuel consumption, with archaic, calendar-based or highly reactive strategies. True improvement in ship performance requires us to bring the hull into the predictive era. By leveraging advanced data science to monitor micro-changes in resistance over time, we can pinpoint the exact inflection point where the cost of a proactive intervention is outweighed by the fuel penalty of degradation. It is time the industry manages hull fouling not as an inevitable consequence of time, but as a preventable anomaly managed through rigorous, predictive algorithms.”
Entering an energy awareness era
Carsten Manniche (Navigator Gas) noted that the industry has entered an awareness era. “The next step is to create the necessary energy awareness onboard and onshore just as we have done regarding safety. We are moving into an era that can be difficult to grasp as it involves human beings and behaviours, and not just energy efficiency improving devices. And do we have the right competencies for this new step?”
“Improving ship performance is not primarily a technical challenge but one of leadership, governance, and culture. Sustainable gains require visible commitment from top management, treating performance and decarbonization as long-term strategic priorities,” stated Niko Mitropapas (CMA CGM) and added, “A holistic efficiency view must link hull, propulsion, machinery, operations, and emissions. Also, credible performance depends on high-quality sensors, quantified uncertainty, and transparent reporting. All that said, experimentation and failure must be accepted as essential drivers of learning and technical maturity.”
Gerry Docherty (Ardmore Shipping) commented, “Clearly, progress is being made across the industry in many aspects of hull performance optimisation. At the same time, it has to be acknowledged that there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution, and much can depend on ship type and trading patterns. Being able to collect high speed performance data is definitely an advantage, but only when this is combined with a proactive approach to coating application, hull performance, hull cleaning and fuel optimisation, can the true benefits be realised.
“It is clear from the presentations, case studies and discussions during HullPIC that bridging performance measurement and biofouling management is seen by many as the central challenge the industry must continue to address, and we, the HullPIC community, remain committed to that because we firmly believe the critical conversations will help drive better outcomes across the industry,” concluded Johansen.
Image: The Hull Performance & Insight Conference (HullPIC) attracted over 90 participants, including ship operators, service providers and classification societies (source: Jotun)
