What is the future of anti-fouling in your opinion?
Stefan Sedersten: The result of our research is[ds_preview] a technique, which forces the barnacles to swim away, making it impossible for them to stick to the hull. The effect is very specific, selective and temporary. I believe in specific methods with a minimum of efforts without doing harm to the environment, this will be the future.
There are techniques like electrochemical antifouling, dolphin skin, shark skin… What is the main advantage of pharmaceutical antifouling?
Sedersten: Some of them perhaps have benefits during certain conditions of trade. But if you look at Selektope, in general, you have a static performance, it is very easy to combine with other technologies. Selektope is stable once it is attached to the hull, but if it polishes off and reaches the settlement, it actually biodegrades.
How would you describe the regulation: In the field of ballast water treatment, there is very strict regulation in the US. Is this the same for antifouling?
Sedersten: It is strict regulation, yes, and it is different from Europe. In some regions, we have to apply on a substance level, for example in Asia and Europe. In the US it is somewhat different, because a product level registration is required. That means you have to have a ready-made product in place. So in our case, we have to do that together with the paint maker. But the regulation as such is manageable.
What market share do you taregt?
Sedersten: Our position is behind the paint makers, we are not selling anything directly. We rely on them to develop paints. We expect to co-exist with other technologies, but of course we hope to be the Gore-Tex of antifouling, and Selektope has the potential for that. Just recently we started a global launch with Chugoku Marine Paints as our partner, one of the »majors« in the market. We expect to expand our customer base together.
