Ariana Psomas: Setting sail into a low-carbon shipping era

Being native to Greece, Ariana Psomas has been surrounded by the sea since her childhood. Combine this with her passion for shipping and energy efficiency technologies and you get a driven professional to act as our global segment director for New Build and Dry Dock. Together with her team, Ariana is driving bold, innovative strategies that steer us toward new sustainability standards in marine coatings.

Braving the Global Seas from Greece

Ariana has the marine industry flowing in her veins—she hails from Andros, a Greek island known for its rich shipping tradition. With a degree in chemical engineering, hopping on board of our company during her student years was a natural step that perfectly combined her passion for maritime affairs and environmental efficiency.

"These two passions have been a key driver in my career. Over the years, I have had the opportunity to drive innovation and sustainability within the marine industry in collaboration with some incredibly talented teams."

Currently, Ariana serves as the global segment director for New Build and Dry Dock. In this role, she focuses on strategy creation and execution, initiating collaborations to advance our sustainability and organizational goals. She also stays deeply involved in the maritime industry, analyzing current and future trends to guide our strategic direction and product development.

But why does managing a business from a small country like Greece work so effectively?

What makes Greece unique is that, despite being a small country, it is home to a significant proportion of the world's ship owners—more than 20 % of the global fleet is controlled by Greek companies.

"While ship owners shape decisions and are often based in Greece, the applications mainly happen in Asia, along with other countries worldwide. At the same time, the ships operate globally."

Solutions for Sustainable Shipping

Delivering sustainably advantaged solutions has always been a cornerstone of our company. In the global maritime industry, it is essential to understand the broader picture and anticipate future trends and regulations. Ariana emphasizes that sustainability considerations are integrated right from the initial stages of product design.

"Customer solutions are heavily influenced by our sustainability goals. We work closely with our clients to understand their specific environmental challenges and provide tailored solutions."

This approach helps ship owners tackle challenges in adopting sustainable coatings, such as navigating evolving regulations, cost concerns, and integrating new technologies. Through tailored consulting and education, our initiatives demonstrate how our coatings reduce emissions and deliver long-term benefits.

"There are many products on the market, so it might be tricky for ship owners to choose the right one. While we cannot make the decision for them, we can show them in a detailed, transparent way exactly how our products work and the benefits they offer."

To support the maritime industry's sustainability goals, PPG joined the RightShip Zero Harm Innovation Partners Program. This partnership reflects our commitment to innovation and protecting the environment. By taking part in RightShip Zero Harm, we aim to promote and implement advanced technologies that make vessels more sustainable.

"This gives PPG the position to contribute to a zero-harm maritime industry. With PPG SIGMAGLIDE® 2390, our biocide-free fouling release coating, we take an essential step towards a decarbonized future”.

A Biocide-Free Future

Aligned with the sustainability goals of our customers, Ariana and her team anticipate a significant rise in demand for biocide-free coatings as the maritime industry increasingly prioritizes environmental protection.

One of the key solutions to this demand is our flagship product, PPG Sigmaglide 2390 fouling release coating. Ariana highlights its benefits: "It reduces carbon emissions significantly and is biocide-free, meaning no biocides are released into the oceans."

Sigmaglide 2390 plays a vital role in our efforts to decarbonize the maritime industry by minimizing the environmental impact of marine vessels. It features our groundbreaking PPG HYDRORESET technology™, which creates a super-smooth, nearly friction-free surface. This innovation helps vessels maintain a clean hull, reducing drag and, in turn, lowering fuel consumption and carbon emissions.

What’s more, Sigmaglide is designed to be suitable for electrostatic coating application, a sustainably advantaged spraying technique introduced by PPG to the shipping industry in 2023. Due to the high transfer efficiency, electrostatic application leads to significant reductions in overspray and waste.

Navigating the Seven Seas of Collaboration

From Ariana's perspective, the future of sustainability initiatives in the maritime coatings industry will include achieving key milestones through enhanced industry collaboration. Strengthening partnerships with industry leaders and stakeholders will be essential for making collective progress toward sustainability goals.

Ariana enthusiastically shares that expanding our sustainable product portfolio is also a priority. This effort will go hand in hand with comprehensive customer support and collaboration, focusing on the adoption of sustainable coatings and the measurement of their environmental impact.

"I would like to see PPG leading the maritime coatings industry with innovative and sustainable coating technologies which help our customers achieve their emission reduction and sustainability targets. And those solutions exist. We have them."