Advanced Polymer Coatings APC), manufacturer of the coatings MarineLine®, ChemLine®, RaiLine®, and PowerLine®, has completed a new plant facility expansion at its Avon, Ohio facilities. The addition to the company’s existing manufacturing operations has more than doubled the previous manufacturing space and now allows the company to increase production of these specialty coatings to meet growing worldwide demand. With the expansion, plant capacity has now quadrupled from its previous levels.

According to Donald Keehan, Chairman of Advanced Polymer Coatings, “MarineLine® is specified for coating cargo tanks of chemical tankers. The coating has seen a dramatic increase in usage since its market entry in 1994 due to its excellent performance characteristics compared to other cargo coatings and stainless steel. This year there are already 121 ships contracted to receive the MarineLine® coating, with an additional 101 ships now booked in 2008, and 55 more ships booked for 2009, so this plant expansion comes at just the right time for our continuing growth."

“Other Advanced Polymer Coatings products formulated specifically for markets that require protective corrosion-resistance include RaiLine® for railcars and ISO tankers; ChemLine® for chemical storage tanks, processing equipment, and concrete protection; and PowerLine® for power-generating utilities. We are now well positioned to accommodate the needs of all these important markets,” Mr. Keehan adds.

Europort Eurasia, the 9th Maritime Exhibition for the Eurasian Region held last month in Istanbul, Turkey, provided an excellent platform for APC to showcase its MarineLine® cargo tank lining system. According to Donald Keehan, the company signed contracts that will see 64 new ships coated with MarineLine over the next several years. He says, “Turkey is a fast-growing market in the shipbuilding industry, and many of the shipyards are very familiar with the MarineLine system. As our fleet of success stories continue to escalate, shipowners are very comfortable in specifying MarineLine as the cargo tank lining of choice for all types of aggressive chemical cargos, CPPs, and edible oils.”

Mr. Keehan adds that in his discussions with ship owners, they are particularly pleased that MarineLine has received the ‘Certificate of Design Assessment’ by the American Bureau of Shipping, a process whereby the ABS reviewed and certified documentation on MarineLine’s specifications, performance data, standards of compliance and engineering analyses. The new MarineLine contracts in Turkey were signed with a number of shipping companies and shipyards. Ship sizes range from 5,500 dwt to 20,000 dwt.

According to Mr. Keehan, the signing of 64 new ships for MarineLine is a significant milestone in that Advanced Polymer Coatings only just announced at last year’s SMM 2006 event in Hamburg, Germany that the 100th MarineLine chemical tanker had been completed, in a time frame that spanned 12 years. The 200th MarineLine coated vessel will be completed in 2007. “Exponentially it is apparent that many chemical tanker vessels will be coated with MarineLine in the years ahead,” he adds.