Advanced Polymer Coatings (APC) has agreed on almost a hundred new deals on its MarineLine tank coating system for chemical tankers in the last 15 months, taking its tally to almost 200 vessels. However, the fact that the company's first 100 contracts took nearly 12 years demonstrates that its high–performance tank coating has well and truly registered with the world’s leading chemical carrier operators.

Following a maritime exhibition in Turkey in mid–2007, APC chairman Donald Keehan announced 64 new contracts. “Turkey is a fast-growing market in the shipbuilding industry,” he said at the time. “Many of the shipyards are very familiar with the MarineLine systems. Shipowners are very comfortable in specifying MarineLine as the cargo tank lining of choice for all types of aggressive chemical cargoes, clean petroleum products, and edible oils.”

The polymer coating system has a high degree of so-called “cross–linking” which helps to prevent the absorption of difficult chemical cargoes. This, in turn, prevents cargo contamination and hastens the turn–around of chemical tankers between cargoes. According to Keehan, a more advanced polymer coating is currently under development, which should provide even more absorption resistance.