Stena has signed a contract to coat the hulls of four newbuild RoPax ferries with paint that incorporates the bio-repellent antifouling ingredient Selektope®.
The agreement confirms yet more full vessel applications for Selektope® whose pharmacological mode of action combats barnacle settlement on ships’ hulls by temporarily stimulating the barnacle larvae’s swimming behavior. To date, marine coating products containing Selektope® have been applied to over 150 vessels including; tankers, containerships and LNG carriers, in a series of newbuilding and over-coating projects.
The organic, non-metal compound is the only one of its kind in marine antifouling application. It is characterized by high efficacy at extremely low concentrations (0.1% w/w), ultra-low leaching and flexibility to boost copper-based paint formulations or to replace copper completely.
Tests have shown that anti-fouling paints containing Selektope® offer superior hard fouling protection, resulting in lower water resistance and decreased fuel consumption, in addition to lower maintenance costs. Selektope® repels barnacles even when ships are idle, allowing fuel saving claims made by coatings suppliers to cover the ship’s entire operational cycle.
“We are honored that a pioneer of sustainability in commercial shipping such as Stena RoRo has chosen a Selektope®-containing hull coating product for its newbuild program. Their investment in a premium antifouling product that contains Selektope® will deliver strong antifouling performance with the additional benefit that their high-activity vessels will have the best protection from barnacle invasion.” says Philip Chaabane, CEO I-Tech AB.
The delivery of the newbuild Stena RoPax ferries is scheduled for 2019/2020. They will be built at the AVIC yard in Weihai, China.
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