Low Flame-Spread Materials and Deck Coverings: What the Register Shows

Every passenger cabin, crew mess and public space on a ship is built from surfaces that regulators expect to slow a fire rather than feed it. That covers more than the obvious safety gear: it reaches into the floor covering underfoot, the paint system on a steel deck, the adhesive holding a bulkhead panel together, the curtains in a cabin and the fabric on a settee. SOLAS and, for smaller vessels, other maritime safety frameworks require these everyday materials to meet low flame-spread characteristics before they are allowed on board, and the Marine Equipment Directive and its successor regime translate that requirement into certificates that manufacturers must hold.

This review looks at our type-approval register for every entry whose DNV product type falls into that family: primary deck coverings, floor coverings, paint systems used as low flame-spread surface materials, decorative veneers, bedding components, draperies and other suspended textiles, upholstered furniture cover material, thermal and sound insulation with low flame-spread characteristics, and adhesives used in the construction of class divisions. Matched against that definition, our type-approval register carries 1,324 products from 259 manufacturers.

The figures below are drawn from that register plus our supplier directory, not from the wider market. They are meant for ship technical superintendents, procurement staff, shipyard outfitting teams and service providers who need to know what is actually on file before specifying or ordering a deck covering, a paint system, an adhesive or a piece of cabin furniture, and who holds current approvals for it.

What our register covers for low flame-spread materials and deck coverings

Across the 1,324 products in our type-approval register that match this product family, the certificates split across three groups. The Marine Equipment Directive accounts for 1,038 of the products, by far the largest share. The Marine Equipment Regulation, which our register tracks as a separate certificate group from the Marine Equipment Directive, covers 153 products. The remaining 133 products carry a general Type Approval certificate rather than either EU scheme. In our type-approval register, the Marine Equipment Directive group is therefore the one a buyer will meet most often for this material family, with the Marine Equipment Regulation and Type Approval groups covering a narrower but still substantial set of products.

The 259 manufacturers behind these 1,324 products range from large coatings groups with over a hundred approved products each down to specialist firms with a single certified item. That spread matters for sourcing: a buyer looking for a niche product, such as a specific pipe insulation cover or a particular adhesive for class-division construction, should expect to find it held by a smaller manufacturer rather than one of the largest names.

Product types in the register

The register breaks the low flame-spread family down into a long list of specific DNV product types, several of which appear under more than one certificate group. The most heavily populated types, by number of products and number of manufacturers holding approvals for them in our type-approval register, are:

• Primary deck coverings (Marine Equipment Directive): 199 products from 33 manufacturers, plus a further 30 products from 5 manufacturers under the Marine Equipment Regulation group. These are the walk-on deck surfaces fitted over steel decks in accommodation and public spaces.
• Surface materials and floor coverings with low flame-spread characteristics: paint systems (Marine Equipment Directive): 176 products from 22 manufacturers, with a further variant listing of 97 products from 16 manufacturers under the same group and 15 products from 3 manufacturers under the Marine Equipment Regulation. Paint systems used as low flame-spread surface treatments on steel and other substrates.
• Surface materials and floor coverings with low flame-spread characteristics: floor coverings (Marine Equipment Directive): 170 products from 54 manufacturers, plus 61 products from 25 manufacturers under a second listing in the same group, and 25 products from 8 manufacturers plus 20 products from 6 manufacturers under the Marine Equipment Regulation. Resilient and textile floor coverings for cabins, corridors and public rooms.
• Surface materials and floor coverings with low flame-spread characteristics: decorative veneers (Marine Equipment Directive): 92 products from 56 manufacturers, plus 43 products from 26 manufacturers under a second listing, and 16 products from 7 manufacturers plus 10 products from 7 manufacturers under the Marine Equipment Regulation. Thin decorative wood-faced panels used on bulkheads and joinery.
• Surface materials and floor coverings with low flame-spread characteristics: adhesives used in the construction of class divisions (Marine Equipment Directive): 60 products from 22 manufacturers, plus 33 products from 10 manufacturers under a second listing, and 9 products from 2 manufacturers under the Marine Equipment Regulation. Adhesives used to bond the panels that make up fire-rated class divisions.
• Surface Material of Low Flame Spread (Type Approval): 56 products from 25 manufacturers. This is the equivalent low flame-spread surface material category under the general Type Approval scheme rather than an EU certificate group.
• Bedding components (Marine Equipment Directive): 33 products from 16 manufacturers, covering mattresses and bedding materials with low flame-spread properties.
• Draperies, curtains and other suspended textile materials and films (Marine Equipment Directive): 21 products from 16 manufacturers.
• Adhesive (Type Approval): 20 products from 11 manufacturers, and separately Floor Covering (Type Approval): 19 products from 9 manufacturers, and Primary Deck Covering (Type Approval): 19 products from 5 manufacturers.
• Upholstered furniture: cover material for any filling material (Marine Equipment Directive): 16 products from 15 manufacturers, meaning most manufacturers in this line hold only one or two approved cover materials each.
• Thermal and sound insulation material with low flame-spread characteristics (Type Approval): 15 products from 7 manufacturers.
• Surface materials and floor coverings with low flame-spread characteristics: pipe insulation covers (Marine Equipment Directive): 12 products from 6 manufacturers.

Several of these type names appear twice in the register, once for the Marine Equipment Directive and once for the Marine Equipment Regulation, and occasionally with a small punctuation difference such as a leading dash between otherwise identical listings. That is a property of how the underlying type-approval scheme records the category rather than a sign of duplicate products, and a buyer comparing two certificates for what looks like the same product type should check which certificate group each one actually belongs to.

Who holds the approvals

Approval volume in this material family is concentrated at the top. Sika Services AG, based in Switzerland, leads with 101 approved products, closely followed by Jotun A/S of Norway with 100. Hempel A/S of Denmark holds 67, Bolidt Kunststoftoepassing B.V. of the Netherlands holds 60, and G. Theodor Freese GmbH of Germany holds 53. SAINT-GOBAIN BYGGEVARER AS of Norway holds 51, EGE Carpets A/S of Denmark holds 47, PPG Coatings Europe B.V. of the Netherlands holds 31, GERFLOR SAS of France holds 27, and ARDEX Skandinavia A/S and PCI Augsburg GmbH each hold 21, one in Denmark and one in Germany. Our register also carries a separate entry for Jotun AS, without the slash in the name, holding approvals for a further 18 products; it sits alongside the Jotun A/S entry as a distinct listing rather than a merged total.

That top group is dominated by coatings and flooring specialists from northern and western Europe, and it accounts for a large share of the 1,324 products even though it represents a small fraction of the 259 manufacturers on file. Looking at where all 259 manufacturers are based rather than just the largest names, China leads by count of manufacturers with 81, ahead of Germany with 34, the Republic of Korea with 30, Denmark with 13, Sweden and Norway with 11 each, Italy with 10, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Netherlands with 9 each, and France with 8. That is a different picture from the top-manufacturer list by product count: a large number of manufacturers in China and Korea hold approvals in this family, but the single largest product volumes still sit with a handful of long-established European coatings and flooring names. A buyer working from country of origin alone, rather than checking the specific manufacturer and certificate, would miss that roughly a third of all manufacturers in the register are concentrated in just two countries while the rest are spread thinly across dozens of others.

Validity and expiry

Of the 1,324 products in this family, our register shows 1,305 certificates as valid and 38 as expired, so the great majority are current, but a small minority are not and should not be assumed valid without a check. An expired listing in the register does not necessarily mean the product itself is unsafe or discontinued; it means the certificate on file has passed its date and a current one should be requested directly from the manufacturer or verified through the register before it is specified on a new build or retrofit.

Looking ahead at when currently valid certificates fall due, our register shows 128 certificates expiring in 2026, 251 in 2027, 199 in 2028, 308 in 2029, 297 in 2030 and 160 in 2031. That is a heavy concentration of renewal dates in the near term: well over half of the forward-dated certificates in this family are due within the next four years from 2026 to 2029. For a shipyard or owner planning a newbuild or a refit with a delivery date several years out, that timeline matters more than the headline valid-certificate count, because a certificate that is valid today can lapse before a vessel is delivered or before a spare part is ordered against an original specification.

The practical takeaway for procurement is to treat the certificate group, the expiry year and the manufacturer name as three separate checks rather than one. A product can be correctly listed as valid in our register on the date of this review and still expire before a delivery date; the register is a record of what has been filed and when it runs out, not a guarantee that a given certificate will still be current on the day the product is fitted.

Where to find service and supply

Beyond the certificate register, our supplier directory lists 520 firms whose profile mentions interior, accommodation, outfitting or furniture work, which is the closest match in the directory to the trades that install and service low flame-spread materials and deck coverings on board. By country, the largest concentrations are in the United States with 58 firms, Italy with 45, China with 43, Germany with 34, the United Kingdom with 26, and Spain, Japan and France with 24 each.

A handful of directory examples illustrate the range of firms behind that count. Magellan Marine Tech, based in China, lists A60 doors and wall panels, cabin units and complete accommodation outfitting among its work. IZOTON UAB in Lithuania covers marine interior construction, pipe and ventilation systems, and insulation and metalwork for cruise ships. Termomontažas (Termomontage), also based in Lithuania, works across maritime and industrial insulation, interior construction and metalworking for ships. UC Marine China lists A60 composite wall panels and A60 fire protection decks among its scope. Edna's Ship Chandler, in Colombia, covers full-service ship chandling including deck and machinery outfitting and cabin services.

None of these five is itself a manufacturer on the type-approval side of this review; they represent the installation, outfitting and supply trades that a technical buyer would approach once a specific approved product has been selected from the register.

How to use this when specifying or buying

• Identify the exact DNV product type first, such as primary deck covering, floor covering, decorative veneer or class-division adhesive, since the register treats each as a distinct approval line even when the products look similar on a data sheet.
• Check which certificate group the product is approved under, Marine Equipment Directive, Marine Equipment Regulation or Type Approval, before assuming two products from different manufacturers are interchangeable on paper.
• Confirm the certificate is currently valid in our register, and do not rely on a valid status alone if the delivery or installation date is more than a year or two away.
• Where an expiry year is on file, weigh it against the vessel's delivery or dry-dock schedule, not just against today's date.
• Request the current certificate directly from the manufacturer for any product whose listed status is expired, rather than substituting a different product without checking first.
• When comparing manufacturers, look beyond the largest names; a smaller manufacturer may hold the only current approval for a specific niche type such as a pipe insulation cover or a particular adhesive.
• Use the supplier directory to identify installation and outfitting firms separately from the manufacturers that hold the underlying product approval, since the two roles are usually different companies.

Frequently asked questions

What does low flame-spread mean for a material used inside a ship?

It means the material has been tested and certified to resist spreading a fire across its surface faster than allowed limits, rather than being fireproof outright. Regulators such as SOLAS require it for surfaces and furnishings inside accommodation and public spaces because a fast-spreading surface fire, even on a material that is not itself flammable in the everyday sense, can cut off escape routes before it is brought under control.

Is a Marine Equipment Directive certificate the same as a Type Approval certificate for the same product type?

No. In our type-approval register they are recorded as separate certificate groups, and a manufacturer can hold one without the other. A buyer working to an EU flag state requirement should confirm the product carries a Marine Equipment Directive or Marine Equipment Regulation certificate specifically, rather than a general Type Approval, and vice versa for other requirements.

Why does the register list what looks like the same product type twice under different groups?

Because the underlying DNV product type, such as floor coverings or decorative veneers, is certified separately under each scheme a manufacturer applies for. A product family can appear once under the Marine Equipment Directive and once under the Marine Equipment Regulation, each with its own product and manufacturer count, rather than as one combined listing.

How many manufacturers actually hold current approvals for a given product type such as primary deck coverings?

For primary deck coverings specifically, our register shows 33 manufacturers holding Marine Equipment Directive approvals and a further 5 holding Marine Equipment Regulation approvals, out of 259 manufacturers across the whole low flame-spread and deck-covering family. That is a small enough list, for most individual product types, that a buyer should check it directly rather than assuming every large coatings or flooring name holds every type of approval.