LIFE02 ENV/B/000341 Development of an integrated approach for ...

Task 3543: State of the art on TBT alternatives
E. Final remarks
It seems interesting to maintain a mutual feedback between users and legislators about the
topic of TBT-free alternatives. This activity will of course happen through the well-known
mechanisms of lobbying. A parallel circuit could be fed by the findings of the inspectors of
the bureau's for registration and classification of shipping: a yearly report could be very
helpful for the good understanding of the situation by the parties involved. Elements for
this idea can be found in the article "Prohibition of organotin in antifouling systems: the
classification societies' perspective" by H. Vold, Det Norske Veritas [18].
Amongst the lot of research actually being performed it is worthwhile mentioning the
investigations about the effects of copper and biocides in antifouling on the marine
environment together with searching the best methods of detection and evaluation of
toxicity. References to this publications are to be found in the documents referred to in this
reports. More recent papers: see [10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17].
A nice insight in the economics of antifouling technology is given in an article "TBTantifouling
paints: a company's experience" by C. Nygren of Wallenius Lines. [8]. Using
fouling release paint instead of self polishing (SP) polymer paint (with biocides) reduces
hull roughness together with fuel consumption. And this lower fuel cost could more than
compensate the higher cost of the fouling release paint compared to the SP-paint.
The questionnaires sent back by Wallenius and Wilhelmsen Lines confirm the policy of
these companies towards a general use of fouling release paints.
A comprehensive survey of the state of the art is to be found in the articles [1] and [2] and
in the review "Antifouling technology – past, present and future steps towards efficient and
environmentally friendly antifouling coatings [9].
This review closes with the following remarks: "While many commercial fouling-release
systems are already available in the market, the development of an efficient product
entirely based on natural biocides seems still far away in time. Again, the still incomplete
understanding of the working mechanisms of these products may be slowing down the
identification of truly interesting compounds. The latter has already caused a change from
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