International Paint unveils global Marine Coatings headquarters in Singapore
 

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

International Paint, part of AkzoNobel, the world’s largest paints and coatings company, today officially opened its new global Marine Coatings headquarters in Singapore. The move recognises the increasing importance to the company of Asia-Pacific markets, where a significant proportion of global maritime activity takes place. It also underscores the significance of Singapore as a hub for International Paint’s regional operations.

International Paint selected Singapore as the location for its global Marine Coatings headquarters due to its strategic importance to customers and the wider shipping industry, as well as its central location within Asia.

Speaking at an opening ceremony for the new headquarters, Oscar Wezenbeek, Director sBU Marine Coatings, International Paint said:

“International Paint is a global leader in marine coatings and we have a proud reputation for supplying coatings based on innovative technology to some of the biggest names in world shipping and shipbuilding”.

“We have a long history of service to the industry with our origins stretching back over 120 years to our founding on the banks of the river Tyne in Newcastle, England. Headquartering our business at this time in Singapore will further enhance our global position and will facilitate the development of growing markets in Asia-Pacific. With Singapore’s owned tonnage being one of the highest in the world and with China, South Korea and Japan representing nearly 90 per cent of the world’s new building capacity and China now leading in the number of dry docks and dry dockings, Asia will be an increasingly important market for us in the future.”

The opening ceremony was attended by International Paint employees, customers and the AkzoNobel Executive Committee member responsible for Performance Coatings, Leif Darner. Guest of Honour was His Excellency Johannes W.G. Jansing; Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Singapore.

Located in the Tuas area of Singapore the new headquarters shares its site with International Paint’s Marine Coatings research centre and is the second stage in a development started in 2010 with the opening of the centre – part of a €20m R&D investment programme that has built a global network of Marine R&D centres across Asia, Europe and America. 

The centre has already contributed to the development of new technology. Also unveiled at the opening of the new headquarters were two significant new fouling control products especially designed to address the industry issues of predictability in antifouling performance not seen since the days of the benchmark tributyltin and the difficult issue of slime fouling on ships hulls: 

• Intercept_®8000 LPP, is a brand new biocidal linear polishing polymer antifouling featuring patented ‘LUBYON_®’ technology that delivers predictable long term performance for in-service periods up to 90 months, and;
  
  
• Intersleek_®1100SR, is the industry’s first biocide free fouling control coating featuring unique patented slime release technology that combats micro fouling on ships hulls, maintaining performance throughout the docking cycle
   

The two new technologies are set to improve vessel operating performance, increase efficiency and help control fuel costs and emissions. 

See the full videos for both products on the International Paint Marine Youtube page:

Intercept_®8000 LPP
Intersleek_®1100SR
Slime – A Diverse Industry Challenge