A Fouled Hull and a Bad Route Cost the Same Money
Frictional resistance is the largest single drain on a ship's propulsive power, and both fouling and weather make it worse — in fuel, in emissions, and now directly in the vessel's EEXI and annual CII rating. Both are measurable. Both are fixable. SepcoTech supplies the levers that hold a hull's efficiency through the whole docking cycle: measure it, coat it, keep it clean, route it well.
What's costing you?
Six ways this problem usually arrives on someone's desk. Pick the one that sounds like your fleet — each goes straight to the part of the answer that deals with it.
A diver-free micro-ROV survey flies the underwater hull from the quay, at anchorage or from the vessel itself, and AI grades biofouling and coating damage at over 98% accuracy — deliverable to certified In-Water Survey standard.
Micro-ROV hull inspection →Hull-Sight scores fouling risk across the fleet from AIS routing, sea temperature and speed — so the next clean goes to the hull that actually needs it, before the fuel bill says so.
Hull-Sight analytics →A hard-film, biocide-free foul-release surface releases growth through surface chemistry instead of poisoning it — nano-smooth out of dock, and warranted as a ten-year system rather than a recoat every docking.
SEA-SPEED foul-release coating →A non-depleting film tolerates 1,000+ underwater cleans without film loss or toxic release — which turns hull cleaning from a reactive crisis into a scheduled grooming programme you can actually run.
In-water grooming →Onboard weather routing builds the track from ABB's marine forecast against a hydrodynamic model of your own vessel — optimising by time, fuel or total voyage cost, with or without a fixed ETA, and calculated on the bridge rather than in the cloud.
ABB Ability™ SPOS →Not one product — a programme. Measure the hull, coat it, keep it groomed, route around the weather that wastes the gain, and see what the four are worth on one fuel bill together. Compounded, not added up.
The combined saving →Measure → Coat → Maintain → Route
Each of these is quoted separately and works on its own. They sit in one category because every step below is a real operational dependency of the next, not a marketing bridge.
Know the hull's true condition
Hull-Sight scores fouling risk fleet-wide from AIS, sea temperature and speed; a micro-ROV survey proves what is actually down there. You cannot manage the drag you cannot see.
Vesselity →Replace the problem at the next docking
SEA-SPEED V 10 X ULTRA puts a hard, biocide-free, nano-smooth foul-release film on the hull — under 5 µm roughness, against 120–175 µm for conventional antifouling.
SEA-SPEED →Groom it instead of recoating it
The film is non-depleting, so it can be cleaned 1,000+ times without loss. Grooming holds the surface at its out-of-dock roughness for a decade — which is where the fuel saving actually persists.
In-water grooming →Don't give the saving back to the sea
A smooth hull sailed through bad weather still burns the fuel. Onboard weather routing protects the gain voyage by voyage — and a longer track in better conditions can improve CII, not just fuel.
ABB Ability™ SPOS →And then it closes. Grooming only works because the coating tolerates it. Cleaning is only scheduled correctly because the analytics predicted the fouling. Routing savings are only measurable because hull condition is known — and every survey you add sharpens the next prediction.
Measured, not modelled
In-service results and independent verification from across the three suppliers in this category.
Surface roughness drives the gain: SEA-SPEED measures <10–16 µm out of dock against 120–175 µm for conventional antifouling — and fuel consumption changes by roughly 1% per 20 µm.
Three specialists, one discipline
Each supplied and supported by SepcoTech, and each quotable on its own.
LiveVesselity — Hull-Sight analytics & micro-ROV inspection
Vesselity turns hull condition into data. Hull-Sight monitors AIS routing, sea temperature and biological conditions to score biofouling risk across a fleet; a diver-free micro-ROV survey then proves what is really on the hull, with AI classifying fouling and coating damage. Class-accepted for In-Water Survey. SepcoTech is Vesselity's partner for the Nordic & Baltic region.
- AI detection & classification of fouling and coating damage — over 98% accuracy
- Diver-free micro-ROV in-water hull inspection — up to 50% cheaper than divers
- Fleet biofouling-risk monitoring & CII support
Live
SEA-SPEED — foul-release hull coating & grooming
The hard-film silane-siloxane SEA-SPEED V 10 X ULTRA: nano-smooth, biocide-free and non-depleting, so the hull stays fast and clean for a decade without leaching copper or biocides — and it tolerates the in-water grooming that keeps it that way. 4–12% verified fuel savings and a modelled ROI of 345% over five years. SepcoTech A/S is the regional agent for the Baltic region and Norway.
- 10-year warranted system · 1,000+ underwater cleans without film loss
- Zero biocides — no TBT, copper or zinc; Lloyd's Register certified
- In service on 400+ naval & commercial vessels worldwide
LiveABB Ability™ SPOS — onboard weather routing & voyage optimisation
ABB Ability™ SPOS — Ship Performance Optimization System puts route and speed optimisation on the bridge, combining ABB's marine forecast with a hydrodynamic model of your own vessel. It runs onboard over email or HTTP, so it works where connectivity is thin or expensive. Installed on more than 4,500 ships, and supplied and supported by SepcoTech.
- Optimise by time, fuel or total voyage cost — with or without a fixed ETA
- 2–5% fuel saving from weather-optimised routing, as reported by ABB
- Optional Seakeeping module routes around forecast vessel motions, not just wave height
Independently certified, and already in service
The coating is Lloyd's Register certified; the ROV survey has been accepted by class more than once. Between them these technologies are in service on commercial fleets, cruise lines and navies worldwide.
The technology, on real vessels
Two from the manufacturers behind the category — the hull, and the data. Each supplier page carries the rest.
Tell us where you're losing performance
You don't have to know which lever you need. Send your vessel particulars and what you're trying to fix, and we'll come back with a vessel-specific view of where the fuel is going and what it would take to get it back — no obligation, through ShipServ or direct.
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