The challenge to find new sustainable antifouling approaches for shipping

Fouling of ships and its counter measure—antifouling—is receiving justified attention as a serious marine environmental problem. If the ship is fouled its fuel consumption will increase radically. If a ship is fouled its emissions to air will increase, its manoeuvrability will be affected and it will contribute to the spreading of aliens. The present antifouling strategies seem to be non-sustainable, either environmentally or technically/commercially. The large amounts of biocides used in antifouling paints constitute a marine pollution problem. Research for more sustainable solutions, biocidal as well as non-biocidal, is ongoing. Optimisation of new antifoulant combinations combined with microcapsule technology will afford the possibility to decrease the exposure of the marine environment to antifouling biocides.