According to Marine Paints research, the industrial market for marine biocides is integrated
with the marine coatings industry and although the active biocides are represented by other industrial actors
than the coating products the two industries have to work hand in hand to develop and distribute optimised
coating products for the end customers, i.e. ship and boat owners.
As the shipping industry is a truly global operation, the suppliers to this industry also need to
work with a global perspective on their products and customer offerings.
As part of the total chemical biocides market the marine section is a relatively small niche. Biocides
used for the agricultural industry, personal care and water treatment are much larger segments. In view of
the limited requirement for marine biocides it is not surprising that these are chemicals with applications in
other industrial segments as well, and where the marine applications have been developed when the product is
already in industrial use.
Indeed, given the time and cost involved in developing a complete registration dossier for a new chemical which complies with all necessary regulations, it is unrealistic to develop new marine biocides without applications in other business areas.
Copper and copper products dominate the marine biocide market to a very large degree following the ban
of TBT. According to industry sources, more than 95% of all antifouling paint used is based on using copper
products as the principal biocides. Copper has a number of features which make it attractive as a marine antifoulant; a relatively broad biocidal effect and chemical properties suitable for ablative and self-polishing coating systems.
Marine paint companies have optimised the use of copper by developing special polymer systems with the ability to bind and release copper at the same rate as the degradation of the paint layer, making it possible to design coating systems with a predetermined functional life-span, typically two and a half or five years depending on the dry-docking intervals for the ship.
As copper has a limited biocidal effect on algae and slime, the antifouling coating needs to be complemented with other biocides for complete fouling protection. After the EU authorities required the industry to submit complete dossiers in accordance with the requirements laid down by theBPD, only a small number of marine biocides remain.
!is has created a somewhat inflexible situation for the marine paint industry, which needs to be able to offer
antifouling solutions for all possible fouling challenges.