MINNEAPOLIS/TINGLEV, Denmark – The Valspar Corp. and Maersk Container Industry announced a long-term supply agreement where Valspar will provide Valspar Aquaguard™ waterborne coating for shipping containers manufactured in Maersk Container Industry’s operations in Dongguan, China. With this agreement, manufacturing of a significant share of dry goods containers will convert from solvent-borne coatings to Valspar Aquaguard waterborne coating. Maersk Container Industry (MCI) is a business unit in the Maersk Group, which comprises the world’s largest shipping container company. MCI plans to begin production with Valspar Aquaguard sometime in 2014 and aims towards one day going 100 percent waterborne.

As part of the multi-year qualification process, Valspar performed vigorous field tests and has produced a significant number of dry van shipping containers with third-party manufacturers.

Aquaguard is a two-coat, 100 percent waterborne coating system that replaces high-VOC, solvent-based coatings. Valspar Aquaguard reduces VOCs by 94 percent, improves corrosion performance, reduces energy use and lowers emissions while improving the working environment.