Ship 2 Shore Products Protect Against Rust, Corrosion
Ship 2 Shore Inc., a company providing corrosion preventative coatings, is expanding, recently opening a U.S. sales office and expanding its marketing to the inland marine industry.
Based in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, Ship 2 Shore is a company many people in the United States have never heard of, despite its long association with the waterways in Canada, including decades of business with the Canadian Navy and Coast Guard, said Mark Wilson, Ship 2 Shore vice president of maritime and energy.
Product developer Terry Laing was a marine applicator who wanted to find a product that would stop corrosion. Back in the 1980s, he partnered with a chemist and created a wet film that polar bonds to metal, displacing oxygen and water and forming an even, dripless barrier.
Laing had little interest in marketing the product, however, so in 2017 he sold his formula to a parent company, creating Ship 2 Shore Inc.
Ship 2 Shore now carries thin, thick and heavy-duty varieties of what it calls its PLID films. The acronym stands for Penetrant, Lubricant, Inhibit Rust and Dielectric. Ship 2 Shore opened its first U.S. distribution center in Huntington, Ala., last year. Its U.S. sales office in Houston, Texas, opened in April.
Ship 2 Shore’s wet films can be used to coat tanks, bulkheads, piping, fittings, flanges, machined surfaces, wire rope, heavy equipment and even electronics, preventing rust and other corrosion. If the surface is already rusted, it descales it and protects from further corrosion. Its Di-Electric Spray is safe for electronics.
“We can actually spray it onto circuit boards and battery terminals and other electrical components,” Wilson said.
It’s also safe for electric motors, switches, wires, contacts and connectors and resists splashing, spraying and submersion.
The products are all self-healing and will remain wet. They can’t be painted over, but they can be applied on pre-painted surfaces. The only way to remove the film is to break the polar bond with a high-Ph soap. The product is non-hazardous, non-toxic and eco-friendly, meeting stringent environmental safety regulations, including those in California.
Wilson said the application process is simple. No sandblasting or other surface preparation is required, and it can be applied to wet surfaces with an airless sprayer, brush or roller. No training or certification is needed.
“It’s saving you on labor and time, and it actually lasts longer,” Wilson said, comparing it to paint or epoxy coatings.
Ship To Shore products cost between 25 and 88 cents per square foot to spread, depending on the thickness of the film required. The thicker the product, the longer it will last, and the better lubricant it will be. Thinner products have better dielectric and penetration capabilities.
The products also pay off in safety, Wilson said, helping to eliminate line parting and preventing the need to work in confined spaces.
He explained how Void & Rudder Float Coat, another Ship 2 Shore corrosion prevention product, is used inside a barge tank. Float Coat is poured in, and then a hose is placed at the bottom of the tank, slowly filling it with water. Since Float Coat is lighter than water, it floats on top and polar bonds to the metal as it rises. When the water and Float Coat reach the top, the pump is turned off, and the water and Float Coat are allowed to settle for 24 hours, allowing separation. Then the water is slowly pumped out from the bottom, using a screen to filter out rust flakes, and the product is recaptured.
Besides its wet films, Di-Electric Spray and Float Coat, Ship 2 Shore also offers special Anchor Chain Corrosion Control and Wire Rope Corrosion Control formulas along with PLID Wrap, an anti-corrosion tape.
Among the companies already using Ship 2 Shore products are Parker Towing, Atlantic Towing, Thoma-Sea and Gulf Copper.
