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Turkish Shipyards Boost for MarineLine

Maritime Activity Reports, Inc.

October 11, 2001

Following Advanced Polymer Coatings’ announcement earlier in the year of its first two chemical tanker coatings contracts won in Turkey, the anticorrosion specialist has just announced a number of further new business gains and opportunities in this developing shipbuilding country. It has also reported gains in other markets.

APC’s unique polymer-based tank protection system MarineLine has now been specified for the cargo tanks of 10 more ships to be constructed or converted in Turkey. These range in size from two 1,450 dwt chemical tankers for Holland’s Unifleet NV, to be constructed by the RMK Marine shipyard, to two 29,990 dwt chemical tankers from UM Shipyard for Fairfield Chemical Tankers of the USA.

Other Turkish yards involved include Celik Tekne (5,000 dwt chemical tanker for Medimar, Italy), Gem-Yat (3,500 dwt chemical tanker for Simonsen APS of Denmark, plus two 3,500 dwt tankers for Turkey’s Atlas Group), and Gisan Gemi shipyard (3,500 dwt acid carrier for Fatoglu of Turkey). In addition to its growing success in Turkey, APC has also confirmed that it is winning further new business from existing users of MarineLine as well as from new customers.

Finland’s Fortum Oil & Gas OY is in the latter category. It has specified MarineLine for its 14,000 dwt chemical carriers to be constructed by Portugal’s Viana do Castelo shipyard, where an order has been placed for two vessels with an option for two more.

Mediterranea di Navigazione (Medimar) of Italy has also specified MarineLine for its 35,000 dwt tanker from Korea’s HHI Mipo shipyard, as has Holland’s Clearwater Group for two more chemical tankers being planned for delivery in 2002/2003. This will take the number of MarineLine-coated Clearwater vessels to five, with the third 5,300 dwt chemical carrier scheduled for completion and entry into service early next year. Medimar’s in-service vessel MT ‘Sveva’ - operating since 1997 - and Clearwater’s MTs ‘Coralwater’ and ‘Coastalwater’, since 1998 and 2000 respectively, have all provided independent, incontrovertible proof of the operational advantages and cost savings delivered by MarineLine. The experience of other MarineLine users also conforms with the testimonials from these customers, of substantially up-rated vessel performance resulting from faster cleaning and drying of the cargo tanks, which provides for very quick vessel turnaround and reloading after cargo discharge. Faster turnaround means less ‘off hire’ time, leading to more revenue-earning voyages per year. More revenue with reduced tank cleaning and maintenance costs means more profit, which is the bottom line of vital importance to all owners and operators of chemical tankers.

The smooth surface, faster cleaning feature was an aspect covered in a recent MarineLine tank inspection report, made by a coatings superintendent of one of the leading operators of specialist chemical and parcel tankers. In this the superintendent stated that, as experienced by the ship’s Master, the tank was easy to clean due to its high smoothness, with the surface being ‘much smoother than what we get in modern stainless (steel) tanks’.

It was further stated that the tanks’ MarineLine coating has ‘very low absorption characteristics leading to a very low amount of odour after discharge and washing’.

Comments such as these - from genuinely independent, industry-knowledgeable people - illustrate why Marine Line has a very significant competitive edge over stainless steel tanks and all other tank coating systems. While Advanced Polymer Coatings is still a relatively small ‘niche’ player in this highly specialist market sector, MarineLine’s increasingly-specified selection as the tank coating of choice by discerning operators is providing the company with a firm foundation for future growth.

In addition to the new and existing customers mentioned earlier, APC is also working on projects with a number of other companies where it stands a good chance to secure the business.

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