Marine and Protective Coatings
Built in 1901, the Ester was a maritime marvel and won dozens of competitions before an onboard fire unfortunately sank her in 1939. Decades later she was found on the seabed outside Örnsköldsvik in Sweden. We supplied our world renowned yacht coatings for the painstaking restoration, which has enabled her to start winning silverware again. The yacht took part in the Monaco Yacht Classic and won the 2019 Restoration Prize. Not bad for a vessel which spent nearly 75 years at the bottom of the sea.
2020 summary
It was a challenging year, due to the impact of COVID-19 and a very difficult oil and gas market. However, the fundamentals of the marine, protective and yacht industries are robust and we’re confident they’ll emerge from this crisis as an essential driver for the global recovery.
We adapted quickly and effectively to keep facilities open and maintain the excellent levels of support that our customers expect globally. As the situation evolved, we remained proactive in supporting marine fleet owners through their dry dock cycles; our technical and engineering service teams maintained their on-site presence with customers at ship and fabrication yards; and we helped oil and gas majors maintain service continuity on projects already underway.
We’ll continue working closely with customers to avoid service disruption and deliver on the commercialization of our product innovation.
2020 highlight
We took great pride in supporting health authorities with their emergency response to COVID-19 in China, where early on in the year we contributed to the construction of emergency quarantine facilities (pictured below). We were able to make our advanced anti-corrosion coating systems available in real time for six two-story buildings in Hong Kong, which provided 120 single rooms. Made of steel as ready-to-use modules, they featured our trusted Interzinc/Interseal/Interthane anti-corrosion coating system to help protect the steel structure.
Although Mainland China was still in partial lockdown at the time, we reacted swiftly to supply essential products and services, enabling the Pak Heung emergency quarantine facility in Hong Kong to be completed as quickly as possible.
We adapted quickly and effectively to maintain the excellent levels of support our customers expect globally.
Jean Michel GauthierDirector of Marine and Protective Coatings
Other key developments
- Acquired New Nautical Coatings, owner of the premium Sea Hawk brand, to increase our presence in the North American yacht coatings market
- Continued to grow in the wind energy market, where we provide a one-stop solution for onshore and offshore wind projects, from foundations to blades
- We maintained our leading position on key global LNG new construction projects and remain the supplier of choice with unique value propositions for assets operating in Arctic climates
- We continued to expand our sustainability credentials by introducing lower VOC and solvent-free product technologies for protective and marine coating applications (Interzinc 52E, Interthane 990E and Intergard 9700)
- Commercialization of new technology for our customers in the yacht industry continued. Our Awlfair SF spray fillers deliver best-in-class productivity and continue to be broadly adopted in the superyacht market
- Made further investments in obtaining Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) for green building applications, helping customers to achieve better sustainability rankings for their buildings
- Continued to respond to shipyard needs for low VOC, high solids coating schemes with the launch of Intersmooth 7200, a new high-performance silyl methacrylate technology
- Scaled up our digital marketing deployment, reaching out to more customers and more industry experts to overcome COVID-19 travel restrictions. We published more than 40 learning programs and professional courses, reaching nearly four million people
- Expanded our brand presence through social media globally and introduced specific channels in China to support local market growth in marine and protective coatings
Revenue
in € millions
Key brands
Revenue by destination
in %
We’ve got the power!
Early in the year, we supplied our trusted solutions for the largest operational offshore wind farm in Asia.
Located just off the coast of Rudong county in Jiangsu province, China, the Huaneng Rudong wind farm is made up of 70 turbines, capable of producing in excess of 900 million kWh of electricity a year.
Many of the wind farm assets are protected with advanced anti-corrosion coatings from our International range, which are specially designed for offshore performance. The offshore wind farm’s booster stations (pictured left) are also protected with our coatings, including the use of our renowned Chartek passive fire protection. These stations collect, maximize and transmit power generated by the turbines to the onshore grid.
Volatile organic compounds.