The 70-ship tanker owner is steadily replacing zinc-based coatings with MarineLine which facilitates more operational flexibility. Zinc coatings can have high absorption factors which sometimes require time for tanks to ‘recover’ after aggressive chemical cargoes.
The 49,048 dwt Bow Elm, built in 2011, will have six more of its tanks coated with APC’s MarineLine during its docking this month at Chengxi Shipyard in Jiangsu province. The upgrades follow earlier applications of MarineLine to the ship’s tanks in 2021.
The ten-year-old Bow Trajectory, 49,622 dwt, and sister vessel Bow Trident will also have MarineLine applications between now and July. Eight of the Bow Trajectory’s 22 tanks will be recoated and all of those on the Bow Trident will be upgraded.
Stephen Jarvie, MarineLine Global Customer Care Manager stressed the importance of cargo flexibility. “Although some shipowners use zinc-lined carriers for methanol service, this strategy eliminates versatility in their operation, resulting in lost profits if the ship returns without any backhaul cargo … zinc coatings have high absorption characteristics, which can cause some cargo retention and lead to purity issues in subsequent cargoes, limiting backhauling and service.”
APC has recently launched a new digital platform for customers to help seagoing staff and tanker companies manage chemical cargoes more safely. The MarineLine Customer Care platform, developed following a year-long programme working with customers and accessed via the APC website, is designed to help managers and sea staff understand MarineLine operations and the carriage of aggressive chemical cargoes that it enables.
APC claims to have about 12% of the global chemical tanker coating market. Around 700 ships now have MarineLine coatings, the company said
