Abstract: The rising cost of fossil fuels has created a significant economic challenge for the fishing fleet, whose performance heavily relies on marine diesel consumption. The increase in operational costs due to fuel price surges negatively impacts the profitability of ships, particularly in the fishing industry, where profit margins are often tight. Given this issue, it is crucial to explore solutions that reduce fuel consumption without compromising the operational efficiency of ships. In this context, cobalt-based ceramic coatings, designed and tested in accordance with the ASTM-D3623 procedure, emerge as an innovative and promising alternative. These coatings reduce biofouling adhesion, a buildup of marine organisms on the ship's hull that increases frictional resistance to movement, consequently leading to higher fuel consumption. By decreasing hydrodynamic resistance, ships require less energy for propulsion, thereby optimizing fuel consumption. Additionally, these coatings provide anticorrosive protection, extending the service life of ships and reducing maintenance costs. The cobalt-based coating has been tested under controlled laboratory conditions and subjected to hydrodynamic shear forces representative of ship navigation at a speed of 10 knots. This article evaluates via CFD the impact of these coatings on the drag resistance of a trawler ship, demonstrating that the increase in hull roughness due to biofouling adhesion on the cobalt-based ceramic coating after one month of navigation results in a 0.02% increase in drag. In contrast, the Intersleek 1001 coating leads to a 6.35% increase in drag under the same conditions.

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