Akzo Nobel is adding marine coatings for shipbuilding, maintenance and repair to its current offering of protective coatings for the regional oil and gas and mining at its Performance Coatings site in Lipetsk, Russia, where production of coil coatings was also recently increased. Investment costs were not disclosed.

The new capacity, expected to be in the market in this year’s third quarter, will strengthen the Dutch company’s supply base and help bring it closer to key customers in Russia, said Mauricio Bannwart, managing director of the Protective Coatings business.

David Prinselaar, operations director for the Performance Coatings business, added that the Russian project is an important part of Akzo Nobel’s efforts to focus on fewer, larger sites that provide operational efficiencies. As well as providing additional capacity for the local market, it will also decrease lead times for our customers, he added.