AVON, OHIO, USA, March 4, 2009 – In 1994, Advanced Polymer Coatings (APC), a small, niche coatings manufacturer specializing in high performance, corrosion-resistant coatings, entered the marine market with a new patented coating called MarineLine®. This system was designed to coat chemical cargo tanks, providing even better performance than stainless steel in the transport of aggressive and high purity chemical cargoes.

Since that first ship was completed until today, the company and MarineLine® have become synonymous with industry innovation. More than 350 chemical tankers worldwide are currently coated with MarineLine® and are carrying all types of aggressive chemical cargos, CPPs, and edible oils.

APC recently completed a plant facility expansion at its Avon, Ohio facilities that doubled the previous manufacturing space and quadrupled capacity. This has allowed the company to increase production of MarineLine® to meet growing worldwide demand.

Coupled with the facility expansion, has been the company’s growing worldwide presence in major shipbuilding and repair venues. In the past seven years, APC has opened these offices: MarineLine Europe in the UK; MarineLine Turkey in Tuzla, Turkey; Advanced Polymer Coatings China in Shanghai; MarineLine Korea in Pusan; MarineLine Japan in Shizuoka; and Advanced Polymer Coatings SEA in Singapore. All offices are staffed to provide customers with regionalized service and access to the MarineLine® technology.

Through these efforts, every year has seen an increase in the number of ships that are coated with MarineLine®. Even as the economy sees a worldwide contraction, shipowners are bringing in their vessels to drydock and upgrading and refurbishing their ships with new chemical carrier capability using MarineLine®. This coating system is engineered with highly cross-linked polymers that deliver superior resistance against the most aggressive cargoes. It is a natural ‘next-step’ upgrade from more fragile phenolic and absorbent phenolic epoxy coatings that break down over time and need to be replaced, or even to stainless steel tanks, which cannot tolerate certain chemicals and are especially vulnerable to salt water corrosion. MarineLine®, on the other hand, can easily carry all IMO-approved cargoes including acids, edible oils, bio-fuels, and solvents, while delivering increased profits to the shipowner because of its outstanding versatility and ease of cleaning.

At the SMM 2008 show in Hamburg, Germany, Advanced Polymer Coatings also announced a partnership with Triton 3T, a company that specializes in the spray application of MarineLine®. Triton 3T’s team of application experts only work with MarineLine®, thereby eliminating problems that inexperienced general coating subcontractors can run across. Triton 3T delivers a smooth and uniform MarineLine® finish at a cost that is virtually equal to the shipyard coating subcontractors. The spray application work is closely monitored by MarineLine® inspectors at each step, with heat curing handled by the APC heat cure team. Following cure and final inspection, the ship is immediately ready for service.

For more information, visit www.adv-polymer.com