Hempel Paint’s Bahrain unit staged a sales rally in the second half of 2011 after suffering a 10 to 15 per cent drop in the first half, the company said.

Sales got a boost from its old customer Arab Shipbuilding & Repair Yard Company (Asry) and from rigs operating in the Bahrain area. “We doubled sales to Asry, supplying 200,000 litres during the year,” Karsten Pedersen, Hempel’s Bahrain-based group vice president and area director-Middle East (West), told Gulf Industry adding that the Bahrain factory’s location close to Asry’s operations helped a great deal.

“We have in stock 98 per cent of the paint normally required by Asry and we can get supplies out in 45 minutes. If necessary we can manufacture requirements overnight,” said the official. The paints it supplies to the shipyard are mainly antifoulings and include the Globic and Oceanic ranges that it produces at the Bahrain plant. The company also stocks imported consignments of Hempel’s Dynamics and Hempasil brands.

Hempel was also able to sell a higher volume of industrial paints in 2011 than it did in the previous year.

The factory in the Mina Salman area of Bahrain

Speaking with weeks still left in 2011, Pedersen said total sales for the year could match or slightly exceed the 2010 figure.

Pedersen said he foresaw sales growth of 10 to 12 per cent in Bahrain in the New Year with Asry and the rigs market continuing with their orders along with demand for decorative and industrial paints.

Hempel’s Bahrain production in 2011 was around 4.7 million litres, marginally over the previous year’s level. The Bahrain plant has capacity of 6 million litres annually which can be easily ramped up by the addition of another shift should it be necessary. Some 60 per cent of total capacity is dedicated to decorative paints, 30 per cent to industrial paints and 10 per cent to marine paints.

New products

The company is also banking on new products it has developed at its Middle East R&D centre in Bahrain over the past two years, including Contex Thermoguard which Pedersen said provides “unquestionable savings on electricity bills.”

“We’re still in the specification stage. We’re spreading awareness among consultants about the product’s advantage and we’re hopeful of strong demand. Contex Thermoguard has been tested many times and in the context of the environment it is a positive product,” he added.

Pedersen said Bahrain’s Ministry of Housing took the lead in pushing for a green product like Contex Thermoguard. The company says villas painted with Contex Thermoguard were found to be 5 degrees C cooler than those coated with conventional paints. The product was tested in laboratories in the UK, and Holland and at the Dubai Central Laboratory. It reflects light and serves as insulation against heat.

A storage facility at the Bahrain plant

Hempel’s waterborne road marking paint, the production of which commenced in 2010, is doing well with 100,000 tonnes sold in the region, mainly in the Saudi market. The product has been approved by 26 domestic and international airports in Saudi Arabia and supplies to 11 airports are ongoing.

One of the products being developed at the Bahrain R&D centre is the elastomeric Contex EM, an upgraded version of a Contex product that works well on structures subjected to weather-related expansion and contraction as in bridges. This product has enjoyed success in the region and currently is being supplied for a flyover in Kuwait. Contex is manufactured at the Bahrain plant and an upgraded version will be welcomed by markets.

The research centre is also working on lead-free slow-yellowing alkyd enamels. Topaz enamel is in the final stages of development for surfaces such as interior concrete, wood and steel.

Hempel has a production capacity of 6 million litres annually at the Bahrain plant

Main revenue base

Hempel Bahrain’s main revenue base is decorative paints. Over the past two years it was commissioned to supply paint for King Hamad Hospital, the Royal Surgeons College of Ireland and a number of towers in the Diplomatic Area, among other contracts. The company also painted a large Bahraini flag to serve as a backdrop to the Bahrain International Circuit.

Beginning in the New Year, Hempel, which bought out British-based decorative paints maker Crown Paints in 2011, will launch Crown products in Bahrain and other Middle East markets.

Meanwhile, an initiative to launch a new Hempel identity is expected to be completed in the Gulf in April. “The exercise will provide our shops and showrooms with more than a smart look. The rebranding is only for decorative paints and customers will see that cans, brochures and showrooms will look a lot more different. Some of our decorative paint showrooms had an industrial look and that had to change,” said Pedersen.