Maritime Industry

The global cost of corrosion is estimated to be $2.5 trillion USD, which is equivalent to 3.4% of the global GDP (2013), according to NACE’s IMPACT Study. The Study estimates that savings of up to 30% can be realized on the actual costs of corrosion related maintenance (not including lost revenue due to downtime) over the life of an asset.

As an organization, NACE International is committed to providing solutions to the maritime industry that reduce costs, maximize asset availability, keep personnel safe, and preserve the environment. Our resources are solution providers designed to serve a wide range of maritime industry areas.

Maritime Newsletter

Crew training

All mariners know that a well-trained and practiced crew can have a tremendous positive impact on the safe operation and maintenance of a ship. This is an area where a little bit of training on how to handle corrosion “in the field” can go a long way towards maximizing asset integrity and service life, and minimizing risk of failure and cost.

Through near misses, incidents, forced shutdowns (outages), accidents, etc.,the maritime industry has come to realize that lack of corrosion management can be very costly. To achieve the full extent savings through proper corrosion management, it is imperative that an organization’s management system implement a Corrosion Management System (CMS).

Following the U.S. Federal Highway Administration study, “Corrosion Costs and Preventive Strategies in the United States,” the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has been in the process of developing and implementing a comprehensive corrosion management program. A CMS program address the threat of corrosion for existing and future assets across the complete lifecycle of the asset, from design to decommissioning.

NACE International offers the ONLY marine-specific certification recognized by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Performance Standard for Protective Coatings (PSPC) standard.

Courses

Marine Coating Technology

Basic Corrosion

Shipboard Corrosion Assessment Training (S-CAT)

Books

Protective Coating & Corrosion Assessment: A Field Guide (Offshore Edition)

Protecting Concrete with Coatings

The Fine Art of Predicting Failures Just Before They Occur

Importance of the ‘Little Things’ in a Good Coating Job

Fixed offshore platforms

Offshore structures represent large capital investments and are being placed worldwide. Control of corrosion on offshore structures such as wind turbines, fixed-leg platforms, tension-leg platforms (TLPs), semisubmersibles, spar platforms, and floating production storage and offloading vessels (FPSOs) is necessary to sustain oil and gas production, provide safe working and living areas, and avoid potential harm to the environment.

NACE provides industry consensus standards for corrosion control in atmospheric zones, splash zones, exterior submerged zones, and ballast water tanks (internally submerged) and training for the inspection and maintenance planning for fixed offshore structures.

Courses

Marine Coating Technology

Basic Corrosion

Offshore Corrosion Assessment Training (O-CAT)

Standards

Corrosion Control of Submerged Areas of Permanently Installed Steel Offshore Structures Associated with Petroleum Production (NACE SP0176)

Exterior Protective Coatings for Seawater Immersion Service (NACE TM0204)

Corrosion Control of Offshore Structures by Protective Coatings (NACE SP0108)

Offshore Platform Atmospheric and Splash Zone Maintenance Coating System Evaluation (NACE TM0304)

Offshore Platform Atmospheric and Splash Zone New Construction Coating System Evaluation (NACE TM0404)

Offshore Platform Ballast Water Tank Coating System Evaluation (NACE TM0104)

Reports

Design of Galvanic Anode Cathodic Protection Systems for Offshore Structures

Waterfront facilities

Material selection and maintenance strategies are critical to corrosion control as well as corrosion education for designers and facilities staff. Coatings and cathodic protection have provided solutions in a wide range of maritime applications, including steel piling systems, jetties, and piers.

Corrosion in reinforced concrete and or steel structures, such as piers often occur due to exposure to high-chloride environments. Those chlorides often come directly from the sea and impact the structure by immersion or a salt-laden atmosphere; or they might be brought to the structure in the form of deicing salts. Pilings in the tidal areas typically experience an extensive loss of steel thickness.

One of the major concerns about localized corrosion is an absence of visible cracking or spalling due to the buildup of corrosion product or red rust that could alert the observer to the presence of corrosion.

Courses

Marine Coating Technology

Basic Corrosion

Corrosion in Public Aquariums

On the Dock of the Bay: Coating Yacht Club Pilings

Impressed Current Anode Systems for Jetty Piling Protection

Atmospheric Corrosion of Silver in Outdoor Environments and Modified Accelerated Corrosion Chambers

Movable bridges

Proper materials selection, application of protective coatings, and utilization of corrosion modeling maximizes initial bridge investment and dramatically reduces maintenance expenses in the future.

Movable bridges and the equipment used to operate them in many cases are over 50 years old and have failing infrastructure. This is due to their susceptibility to corrosion due to carbonation, chlorides, and atmospheric corrosion. In fact, employing relatively low-cost corrosion control measures during initial construction can produce low-maintenance bridges and extend the service life of the equipment used to operate them.

Courses

Marine Coating Technology

Basic Corrosion

CIP Bridge eCourse

Books

Atmospheric Corrosion

Conference Papers

Long-Term Marine Atmospheric Corrosion Testing Experiences

Short Term Atmospheric Corrosion of Low Carbon Steel

Soft coating damage evolution on steel

Navigational aids

The constellation of fixed and floating navigational aids necessary to provide for safe commercial and recreational travel on a nations waterways is astounding, numbering in the hundreds of thousands to millions. Maximizing the servicing interval for each of these can equate to millions of dollars in savings. A corrosion management strategy can help.

Courses

Marine Coating Technology

Basic Corrosion

Nebraska Researchers Present USS Arizona Corrosion Findings

Researchers Test Materials in Tropics to Better Preserve Military Equipment

Ship design and construction

The most recent report, Estimate of the Annual Cost of Corrosion for Navy Ships: FY 2008-2010 Update, was published in September 2012. The report provides an update of previous studies on corrosion-related costs for Navy ships.

**Table ES-1. Navy Cost-of-Corrosion Studies**
Study year ^a	Date baseline	Study segment	Annual cost of corrosion
2005–2006	FY2004	Navy ships	$2.4 billion
2006–2007	FY2005	Marine Corps ground vehicles	$0.6 billion
2007–2008	FY2005–06	Navy and Marine Corps aviation	$2.6 billion
2008–2009	FY2006–07	Navy ships	$1.8 billion^b
2009–2010	FY2007-08	Marine Corps ground vehicles	$2.4 billion
2010–2011	FY2008-09	Navy and Marine Corps aviation	$2.4 billion
2011–2012	FY2008	Navy ships	$2.7 billion
	FY2009	Navy ships	$3.0 billion
	FY2010	Navy ships	$3.15 billion

The increase in corrosion-related costs between FY2008 and FY2010 was the result of both an increase in maintenance labor costs3 and an increase in corrosion-related costs attributable to commercial depot maintenance.

Employing corrosion control measures at the design stage decreases costs during operation and maintenance.

Courses

Marine Coating Technology

Basic Corrosion

Standards

Test to Determine the Potential Corrosion Effects of Ballast Water Treatment Systems on Ballast Tanks (NACE TM0112)

Exterior Protective Coatings for Seawater Immersion Service (TM0204)

Books

The Marine Coatings User's Handbook

Ship operation and maintenance

Inspection during operations and maintenance is an important part of the maritime life cycle. NACE offers numerous resources and courses for assessing the conditions of tanks, measuring hull roughness, fouling, and employing numerous corrosion control techniques to optimize performance while reducing inspection and maintenance costs significantly.