As a co-author and signatory of a recently published whitepaper entitled ‘Antifouling biocides: a key contributor to sustainable shipping’, the Swedish company I-Tech, developer of barnacle repelling technology Selektope, believes that education around the important role of antifouling biocides in supporting sustainability in the maritime industry is vital.
As the negative consequences of marine biofouling on fuel use and emissions continue to intensify in parallel with tightening rules around GHG emissions from ships, the need for antifouling biocides to actively protect underwater surfaces from biofouling is greater than ever before.
Although marine biocides reside in the majority of antifouling coatings used on the global shipping fleet, their crucial role in providing continuous active protection against biofouling species that is applicable for the entire maritime fleet is often underestimated. Concerns regarding the effects of biocides on the marine environment and their safe usage are frequently heightened by marketing campaigns promoting new alternative biofouling management technologies. Effective education and knowledge around the extensive regulatory regimes that uphold the safety of biocide use in the marine environment can be relatively absent.
I-Tech, as a marine biocide supplier, is a co-author of the whitepaper Antifouling biocides: a key contributor to sustainable shipping with eight other global biocide suppliers, with the aim of highlighting the important role of biocides in antifouling coatings; the history of their use, how the safety of their use is regulated, and why the maritime industry needs them in the quest for meeting global sustainability and decarbonisation targets.
Currently, more than 95% of the global shipping fleet uses biocidal antifouling coatings to prevent fouling; at the same time the biofouling management technology sector is rife with innovation. This including the continuous advancing of biocidal coating technologies, the development of low-biocide or biocide-free coatings, hull grooming services and technology, and alternative hull surface protection methods.
Lowering the quantity of total biocides in antifouling paints, while still preserving their effectiveness, is a trend that is emerging, particularly in certain areas of the world where regional regulation supports optimising and lowering the total biocide content in coatings.
I-Tech, as a supplier of the marine biocide, Selektope, is positive to this trend. Selektope, as a barnacle repelling active agent, can be used at extremely low concentrations in an antifouling coating system due to its selective mode of action on barnacle species. With a recommended use at 0.1% per wet weight of paint, it has been shown to deliver successful and continuous hard fouling prevention performance for the lifetime of the paint system, even when vessels remain stationary for long periods of time.
This ability to enhance low biocide coating systems has made Selektope popular with paint manufacturers over the past decade. Since the first antifouling coating containing Selektope was introduced to the industry in 2015, 36 antifouling coating products containing the biotechnology have been commercialised by several different global coatings manufacturers. By April 2024, sales of Selektope reached 20t, representing enough Selektope for over 15m litres of paint.
The inclusion of Selektope in global and regional antifouling coatings ranges from 60-month systems for ocean-going vessels, to outfitting coatings for the protection of newbuild vessels in shipyards, to domestic leisure boat coatings for regional markets.
Makus Jönsson, CEO I-Tech, said: “As a supplier of a substance that is classified and approved as a marine biocide, although with a temporary and non-fatal effect on the target organism, we believe that increased knowledge around the need for biocides and how they are regulated is key. This is why we contributed to authoring the Antifouling biocides: a key contributor to sustainable shipping white paper and are strong advocates of getting the message out that marine biocides are essential for a transformation to net-zero emission shipping. This whitepaper provides the perfect vehicle for the industry to gain better understanding of marine biocides and their role in the shipping industry, in addition to providing vital context around the aspects impacting their current and future use.”
Co-authoring companies of the whitepaper are: American Chemet Corporation, Arxarda, Bardyke Chemicals, Cosaco, Eckart, I-Tech, Janssen PMP, Lanxess and Nordox.
The whitepaper Antifouling biocides: a key contributor to sustainable shipping can be downloaded here.
