2024
Marine
What if your next cruise ship flooring could be built in half the time, save hundreds of tons of steel and thousands of tons of fuel? Now it can. Thanks to a breakthrough ultralight floating floor system from Sika, there’s no longer any reason to compromise between sustainability and performance.
Cutting CO2 Emissions
To aid the shipbuilding industry in reducing CO2 emissions, Sika has developed a revolutionary new flooring solution based on an advanced, reusable technology designed to enable substantial savings in weight, energy and fuel consumption. Compared to traditional floating floor constructions currently used in shipbuilding, Sikafloor® Marine Ultralight Floating Floor can reduce your ship’s weight by at least 24 kg/m2. By minimizing the amount and weight of materials used in ship construction, Sika’s ultralight floating floor systems are both faster and more efficient to install while significantly reducing CO2 emissions throughout the building and supply chain.
Improved Acoustics and Fire Safety
The Sikafloor® Marine Ultralight Floating Floor system is designed to be applied on top of insulation without a solid connection to the ship’s superstructure. It utilizes a mass and spring concept, where the insulation acts as the spring and the top layer serves as the mass, providing excellent acoustic performance. When combined with Sika’s special viscoelastic solutions, the system is proven to effectively minimize structure-borne noise, airborne noise propagation, and vibration-induced radiation of sound, ensuring a quieter and more comfortable environment for passengers and crew. Two versions of the system are available, both of which hold an A60 certificate when applied in a thickness of 50 mm or more. The system’s A60 fire rating makes it a reliable choice for horizontal fire-retarding divisions in marine applications.
An independent study conducted by GSR Services GmbH confirms the weight savings, reduced fuel consumption, and CO2 footprint benefits offered by Sika’s ultralight floating floor systems. Comparing the data for a specific cruise ship with 17,023 m2 of floating floors, versus an existing Litosilo Steel floating floor weighing 48.1 kg/m2, the study found that the Ultra-Light Floating Floor system contributed to a 0.41% reduction of marine gas oil consumption (MGO) – the equivalent of more than one ton of fuel per day. The same calculation when using liquid natural gas (LNG) resulted in a reduction of 0.8 tons of fuel per day. Depending on the type of fuel used, this amounts to a daily CO2 emission reduction in the range of one to three tons.
Compared to traditional steel floating floor systems, Sika’s ultralight floating floor systems offer significant advantages in terms of transportation and installation. The ultra-lightweight aluminum panels, at just one-third the weight per flooring area of comparable floating steel floor, contribute to substantial fuel and time savings in transportation and are far simpler to load aboard the ship. Additionally, the panels are easy to assemble with simple tongue-and-groove system, which is bonded atop the steel strips that are placed upon a layer of 50 mm mineral wool slaps.
Like all Sika innovations, the Sikafloor® Marine Ultralight Floating Floor system is thoroughly designed and tested to perform. Prefabricated cabins, lining and partition walls, ceilings and furniture can all be installed onboard directly on the floating floors, which have sufficient compressive strength and rigidity to carry the load of the installation. In fact, independent cabin roll load tests, performed with more than 2,500 kg with no deformation, confirm the system’s strength and durability.
Sika’s innovative ultralight floating floor solution represents a significant step forward in the journey towards more sustainable shipbuilding. By drastically reducing your ship’s fuel and energy consumption, reducing CO2 emissions in the building and supply chain, and saving time and effort in installation, it truly is a generation ahead of traditional flooring systems. As the industry continues to evolve, Sika remains committed to leading the way together with our customers, delivering advanced solutions that are better for the environment, and better for your business.
How can we help move your business forward?
Sika Marine flooring partner services include:
- Consulting: Product selection support and advice
- Testing: Testing of acoustics, load strength and substrate compatibility
- Reporting and approvals: Test reporting for simplified end customer approvals
- Networks: Collaboration & connections with testing institutes and local engineering and technology partners
- System engineering: Design, implementation and system commissioning support
The Sikafloor® Marine Ultra-Light Floating Floor system enables:
- Weight savings of at least 24 kg/m2
- Fuel savings ranging from one to three tons per day
- Fire safety with A60 certified fire rating
- 100% recyclable flooring panels
- Load strength up to 2,500 kg without deformation
Sikafloor® Marine Ultralight Floating Floor
Fill out the form and get all the information you need to the Sikafloor® Marine UL FF. You will be provided an extensive report with external studies about fuel reduction and weight savings of UL FF.
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