Transportation coatings may bring to mind the protective paint and finishing on automobiles, boats, trains, airplanes or other moving vehicles. While this is an important part of transportation maintenance, an even more vulnerable aspect of transportation is the shipment of bare-metal goods. These goods -whether sheet metal, gears, coil or automobile parts -are at high risk for corrosion even within hours of manufacturing. If not protected, the producers of these products will face high rust claims and customer complaints on their shipments. Often, the protection that is available can be clumsy or inefficient. Vapor Corrosion Inhibitor (VCI) transportation coatings provide a step up from ordinary protective coatings and are a good alternative in cases where VCI packaging options are not preferred.
Though different metal alloys have different levels of resistance to corrosion, most metals are prone to rapid corrosion with only minimal exposure to moisture and oxygen. This problem is compounded during long-distance and overseas shipping, when goods may pass through extreme environments exposed to humidity and salt spray for weeks or months and not just hours.