PPG Industries' DURANAR XL & DURACRON Used in Miami Tunnel
Coatings giant PPG Industries Inc. (PPG) said that it has supplied its coatings products – DURANAR XL and DURACRON –for the Port of Miami tunnel. The recently opened tunnel comprises two 4200 foot-long highway tunnels that connect MacArthur Causeway on Watson Island to the Port of Miami on Dodge Island.
Specified by Arquitectonica, the Miami-based architectural firm that designed the tunnels, DURANAR XL is a three-part coating system consisting of a urethane primer coat, a decorative color coat and a protective fluoropolymer clearcoat. The firm chose the DURANAR XL crystal blue coating to paint the 4,000 metals panel lined on both the tunnel walls.
The product manager of PPG’s coil and building products group stated that the DURANAR XL coating is mainly apt for monuments and storefronts that require long-term color, gloss retention and chalk resistance. It can also withstand exposure to environmental factors and automobile exhaust for a long time.
Metalwerks, a Pennsylvania-based metal manufacturer and contractor, has made the aluminium plates and the hidden lattice framework behind it. While the metal panels were painted by Precoat Metal, St. Louis, PPG’s DURACRON acrylic extrusion was used on the lattice framework by Spectrum Metal Finishing, Youngstown, OH, a member of the PPG CAP CERTIFIED APPLICATOR PROGRAM group to make them durable.
The Port of Miami Tunnel has been built at a cost of $667 million and has three distinct features. Along with the twin underwater tunnels, the project incorporates improved connections to the Port of Miami roadway system. It also widens the MacArthur Causeway Bridge for providing a direct connect between Miami’s seaport and the Interstate – 95 and 395 – highways.
PPG Industries released its second-quarter 2014 results last month. The company topped earnings expectations in the quarter on healthy results across major markets, notably Europe where earnings jumped 28%. Cost reduction measures and strength in the automotive OEM coatings market supported the results.
PPG Industries is a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock.
Better-ranked companies in the diversified chemical space include LyondellBasell Industries NV (LYB), Marrone Bio Innovations, Inc. (MBII) and Celanese Corporation (CE). While LyondellBasell Industries and Marrone Bio Innovations sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Celanese holds a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Read the Full Research Report on PPG
Read the Full Research Report on CE
Read the Full Research Report on LYB
Read the Full Research Report on MBII
Zacks Investment Research
