APC wins two more chemical tanker coating contracts

Basaran Bayrak at Ceksan shipyard

Cleveland, Ohio, based Advanced Polymer Coatings (APC) has won a new deal to supply tank coatings for two new chemical tankers being built in Turkey. The company’s Turkish division is set to applying APC’s MarineLINE coating system on both newbuild vessels: the 8,000 DWT Basaran Bayrak NB 80 a chemical/oil tanker being built for shipowner Ceksan at its Ceksan shipyard in Tuzla and the 6,000 DWT NB 68 Sedat Basak, a tanker being built for Turkey’s Atako Shipping and its partner Nakkas Shipping at the Gisan shipyard also in Tuzla.

APC’s global marine manager, Captain Onur Yildirim, says the projects will be led by APC’s Turkish marine sales manager Koray Karagoz supported by APC’s 14-strong team at its Tuzla office as well as by APC’s headquarters in Cleveland.

“APC has been operating in Turkey since 2001 and we have a really experienced talented team that has coated and repaired 450 different chemical tankers in Turkey,” says Yildrim. “APC now has around 80% of the Turkish tank coating market and as a result it is one of our top export destinations and we really look forward to undertaking these jobs. Each contract will see us coat the ships’ cargo tanks and slop tanks with MarineLINE along with application inspection, and full heat curing services.”

He adds that APC won the latest deals due to having a committed long-term presence in Turkey combined with the quality of MarineLINE and its broad range of benefits.

“The low absorption characteristics and highly glossy surface of MarineLINE allow operators to reduce overall tank cleaning times, which in turn helps reduce fuel consumption and GHG emissions associated with hot water production,” says Yildrim. “This, together with the cargo versatility and flexibility that MarineLINE offers over its competitors, is giving us a real edge. What we mean by versatility is ease of cleaning between different cargoes, meaning operators can switch grades more frequently and easily, with significantly less risk of cross contamination. These are key advantages in the chemical tanker market, where vessels can be expected to transport a wide variety of chemicals.”

The latest Turkish jobs follow another new deal for APC with Chinese shipowner Shandong to supply coatings for a fleet of 50,000 DWT medium range tankers to be chartered by Shell as part of its Shell Project Solar program.

APC grew its maritime sales by 40 per cent in 2021 with 56 ships coated equating to over 750,000 square meters of MarineLINE applied. APC says it now has a more than 12% of the global cargo tank coating market. Exports are underpinning the growth with key markets for the company including China, the Arab Gulf, Croatia, as well as Turkey.