Captain Koray Karagöz, General Manager and Founding Partner of MarineLine Türkiye

General Manager and Founding Partner of MarineLine Türkiye, Captain Koray Karagöz, spoke with us about the sectors the company serves, domestic and international sales volumes, and targets for coming years in this engaging interview.

Could you tell our readers about yourself and your professional background?

I was born in June 1975 at the beginning of a beautiful summer in Bakırköy, Istanbul. However, since my father's side is from Trabzon, I always identify myself as being from Trabzon. After completing my primary and secondary education at Bahçelievler Primary School and High School, I entered the Istanbul Technical University Faculty of Maritime Studies in 1992 and graduated in 1997 from what is now the Department of Maritime Transportation Management Engineering. Between 1997 and 2004, I worked as a deep-sea captain at sea. After calling at 168 different ports in 57 different countries, I began working at Advanced Polymer Coatings, a U.S.-based company, in 2004. In 2006, we founded MarineLine Coating San. İç ve Dış Tic. A.Ş., together with the owners of Advanced Polymer Coatings and Captain Okan, and I remain General Manager and partner of the company, now known as MarineLine Türkiye. During this time, I received the necessary training abroad on "Coating Technologies" and hold a Level III Certified Inspector certificate from NACE, the world's most authoritative body in this field.

Could you provide information about MarineLine Türkiye? What are the factors determining your success in the sector?

MarineLine Türkiye is a company founded in 2006 by the owners of the U.S.-based APC (Advanced Polymer Coatings), myself, and Captain Okan. APC had been operating in Turkey since 2001, and I began working for them in 2004. Between 2001 and 2004, APC in Turkey had coated only 11 projects and approximately 54,000 m² of area, while from 2004 to the present, we have successfully coated a total of 690 projects and approximately 4,000,000 m² of area against corrosion. The company's primary activity is the supply, application, inspection, and heat treatment services for Chemline/MarineLine coatings, APC's proprietary product against chemical corrosion. Our headquarters is in Tuzla, and we also have our own application center in Gebze.

What are the sectors you serve and your product varieties?

We provide services in both maritime and industrial sectors. In the maritime sector, we coat cargo tanks of chemical tankers. In this field, we are the sector leader both in Turkey and in the world. In fact, approximately 520 chemical tankers have been built in Turkey in the past 15 years, and 465 of them have been coated with MarineLine.   In the industrial sector, we provide services against all types of chemical corrosion for land transport tanker companies and manufacturers, thermal power plants, petrochemical facilities, storage tanks, paper mills, and oil mills. Since we started in the industrial market in 2011, we have successfully completed 225 projects.

Could you tell us about your quality and safety policy in the products you produce?

We use only APC's proprietary product, manufactured solely in their own factories in America, with "siloxirane" as its main ingredient and discovered by APC owner Donald Keehan, a coating product. Our coating has molecular cross-links 28x784 times greater than all other coatings, so it does not absorb any aggressive chemicals and prevents corrosion through this property. Furthermore, its surface roughness is much lower than all other coatings, preventing chemicals from adhering to the surface. Since we also carry out the application ourselves, we can provide a 100% guarantee for 5 years depending on the chemical.

Could you tell us about your domestic and international sales volumes?

We are the market leader in the maritime sector domestically. As I mentioned above, of the approximately 520 chemical tankers produced in Turkey in the past 15 years, 465 have been coated with MarineLine. In the industrial sector, which we entered in 2011, we have successfully completed 225 projects to date, and with our own application center that we opened in Gebze in 2017, we believe we will reach much higher levels of success. Abroad, we have completed projects in European countries such as the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Greece, Poland, and Croatia, in Turkic republics such as Turkmenistan, in Georgia, and in Middle Eastern countries such as Dubai, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq.

What is your perspective on R&D? How do you define the importance of R&D for MarineLine?

R&D is very important for coating companies like ours. If you want to be competitive, you must keep pace with technology and development. That is why our parent company APC has a highly advanced R&D center called "Donald Keehan R&D" in Avon, Cleveland, Ohio, which is among the few notable R&D centers in its field worldwide.

What innovations do you wish to implement in coming years? What benefits will these innovations bring to your company, your products, and the sector?

We have adopted the principle of climbing the steps perhaps a bit slowly but with solid steps. I started working for APC in 2004, expanded the business volume from there in Turkey, founded MarineLine Türkiye in 2006 and made it the market leader in the maritime sector, opened our industrial department in 2011, completed 225 projects in a short time, and opened our own application center in 2017. In the coming years, we plan to expand this application center further. On this journey we started with 1 person, we now have 62 personnel in our organization and, together with the applicator company we work with as partners, we serve approximately 300 people on our own projects. In 2018, we received a "Conformity Certificate" from TSE for our Gebze facility, and I really value this certificate we received because with this certificate, MarineLine Türkiye, authorized by TSE, will coat the internal surfaces of land tankers and ISO containers with "Chemline" products resistant to acid corrosion, particularly for acid transportation to prevent corrosion, and TSE has so far authorized only our company in Turkey in this regard.