Colossal bulk carrier and tanker ships are built in multiple small block sections. Each of these “blocks” are blasted and painted with a protective coating before the ship is launched for the rest of her life into the most corrosive of all environments, the sea.

Preparation of the steel surface and the application of the protective coating are therefore vital to protecting the ship owners asset and to ensuring the ship does not become a useless rusting hulk within a short period of time.

Blasting and painting of ship blocks can be performed in one of our purpose built combination blast and paint rooms. These rooms are sized to suit the required block sections. The combination blast and paint room allows the blocks to be blasted and painted in the same room without having to shift from one room to another for separate blasting and painting.

In inclement weather transferring the block from one room to another adds to the risk of flash rusting on the freshly blasted surface prior to the paint being applied. In a combination blast and paint room the block can be blasted, cleaned, weld repaired and painted without being moved between rooms, and all the time in a temperature and humidity controlled environment.

The process time from the block entering the blastroom raw to leaving with 2 or more layers of protective coating can last for several days. Due to this long timeframe both blasting and painting equipment can end up sitting idle for long periods. Under utilised machinery is a waste of resources.

To combat this we produce a dual room system. This system incorporates two blasting/painting rooms and one machinery room. The blasting, ventilation, abrasive recovery and dehumidification equipment are shared by both rooms. When one room is blasting the other is being used for abrasive clean up or painting. Once the processes are complete the roles are reversed. This set up allows the same set of processing equipment to be used for both blasting/painting rooms.

End result….huge savings in capital investments and fully utilised equipment.