Looking ahead the newbuilding market will take time to
readjust to lower levels of new vessel ordering,” Brown said.
“For International Paint, some volume loss may be compensat-
ed for by a larger active trading fleet needing maintenance
products. With most major economies returning to positive
growth, the market will experience a period of readjustment
and a return to more sustainable levels probably beyond 2013.
The maintenance outlook is forecast strong with growth
throughout the next five years.”
Paint demand last year was still in-line with expectations in
the newbuild segment, primarily driven by the existing order
book, according to Jacques de Coninck, director, PPG global
marine coatings. “For the dry dock segment the number of
inquiries was still healthy,” he said. “Although slippage and
even cancellations were commonplace throughout the year
and still expected to continue in 2010, PPG was and will be
less affected, thanks to a solid customer portfolio and strong
customer relationships.
“The fleet is still growing at a steady pace and that
fleet requires maintenance and upkeep,” said de Coninck.
“PPG Protective and Marine Coatings (PMC) distribution
network aids in supplying the fleet and our products are
well know and used in the industry.”
Geographically, the Asia-Pacific region comprises the
largest market for marine coatings. According to McRae, near-
ly 70 percent of the market is now in the Asia-Pacific region.
“It used to be concentrated in Japan and then South Korea,”
said McRae. “In the last five years we’ve seen China and India
gain momentum.”
Cost and efficiencies are a major reason. Sherwin-Williams
has addressed the market shift by adding manufacturing facil-
ities in Asia as well as a dedicated Asia-Pacific team. “Two of
our biggest advantages are our NACE-certified workforce, with
more than 3,700 years combined experience, and our world-
wide distribution network, with more than 4,500 company-
owned distribution points around the world,” said McRae.
“Demand depends by region, with the largest newbuilding
demand in Asia-Pacific,” said de Coninck. “We see maintenance and repair moving to Asia-Pacific although there is still
a significant part of the owners residing in Europe. In North
America, there is a growing demand in the inland market as
more financing becomes available.”
RAW MATERIAL COSTS & ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS
Rising raw material costs and environmental issues contin-
ue to effect the marine coatings market. One example of
higher prices is copper, used in traditional underwater hull
coatings. “Copper has doubled in price over the last year,”
said McRae. “That’s made our new antifoulants, SeaGuard
HMF heavy metal-free and Sher-Release, a cost-effective
consideration for many customers, given the added fuel sav-
ings that both offer. Certainly our costs have increased but
we’ve worked very hard to become more efficient to keep
price increases as low as possible.”
“The global economic crisis had a short term effect on
raw materials, with a dip in commodity prices seen at the
start of 2009,” said Brown. “Commodity prices have since
Corrosion protection at newbuilding: International Paints’ light colored alu
climbed back up to levels seen before the crisis, and the
market remains volatile.
“Inflationary pressures have been present throughout the
year and overall we have experienced a year on year increase
in the cost of coatings manufacture,” Brown continued. “As a
company we strive to minimize price increases to our cus-
tomers by employing various techniques such as forward pur-
chasing of key commodities and benchmarking activities. As
many of our customers have pricing contracts in place we have
absorbed much of these increases ourselves, but have been
forced to implement price increases across the market.”
Environmental regulations and compliance continue to be a
chief concern among marine coating manufacterers. Users of
marine coatings are not only looking to comply with existing
regulations, but they are taking a proactive approach and are
adopting new technologies before they are mandated.
“We’re seeing more openness to products that offer higher
solids, low VOCs, and HAPs-free,” McRae said. “Customers are
telling us that they are important, even though they may not
necessarily need them for compliance at this time. Customers
see this as a benefit as part of their corporate stewardship and
sustainability programs. Others are climbing onboard because
