Selektope® Success in 2017: Review of the Year

A statement from I-Tech CEO Philip Chaabane:

As 2018 approaches, it’s good to look ahead and think about what the year may bring us. But first, a quick look back at successes we have celebrated throughout 2017 for our unique, bio-repellent ingredient Selektope. It has been an outstanding year of developments for our technology, with new antifouling coatings products being launched by new paint manufacturers boosted with barnacle-repellent power thanks to Selektope. I-Tech AB has won awards, welcomed new team members and our team has worked to strengthen our production and supply chain to guarantee delivery of our product in the face of snowballing demand. We will unravel the details of this work and associated developments in early 2018, but for now I can confirm that I-Tech is securing a long future for Selektope in the marine coatings sector. Watch this space – 2018 will be an exciting year for Selektope!

2017 was quite a year for all of us at I-Tech AB. We’ve been through many developments, both for our innovative antifouling ingredient Selektope and within our team. So much has been achieved, making 2017 a remarkable year for the company and the technology and we are proud to present a review of our 2017 highlights.

Early in the year, I-Tech made two senior appointments to our management team. Catherine Austin assumed the role of Director of Marketing and Communications bringing her extensive experience from various roles in the shipping sector including the ownership and operation of a publishing and events company, ownership of a technical consultancy company and being a well-reputed technical journalist and magazine editor. Then, Magnus Henell assumed the role of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) within I-Tech’s management team, bringing his extensive CFO and CEO experience from various small and medium companies including his role of CEO for PowerCell Sweden AB and vast experience of M&A work within the Volvo Group to I-Tech.

From the start of 2017, Selektope was being shortlisted for multiple maritime industry awards, confirmation of the impact of the technology on the sector. Also, we celebrated our first award in the European Biocides sector, when I-Tech was recognised as the technology innovation leader in the European marine biocides market by Frost & Sullivan, being awarded the 2017 Technology Innovation Award. Based on their independent analysis of the European biocides market, Frost & Sullivan found that the long-term environmental and economic benefits of using I-Tech’s unique bio-repellent antifouling ingredient, Selektope, make it a truly innovative technology in the European marine biocides market. Frost & Sullivan saying that: “The solution has the potential to induce transformative change in the marine industry,” and that they expect the technology will become the trendsetter in the European marine biocides market in the coming years.

In June, Stena RoRo signed a contract to coat the hulls of four newbuild RoPax ferries with a Selektope-containing coating. Amongst the many vessels being coated each year with Selektope-containing antifouling products, this is a stand-out milestone for the company as it represents a vessel type that is pioneering the use of Selektope. The delivery of the newbuild Stena RoPax ferries is scheduled for 2019/2020 from the AVIC yard in Weihai, China and we look forward to receiving the first performance results.

Then, in late-June we celebrated the increasing diversification in the range of Selektope®-containing antifoulings when a brand-new product was launched by Chugoku Marine Paints. SEA GRANDPRIX 880HS PLUS is the third product Chugoku Marine Paints (CMP) has launched that contains Selektope®. It joins CMP’s SEAFLO NEO CF Premium; and SEAFLO NEO-S PREMIUM that were launched in August 2016. Uniquely, for this product CMP boldly guarantees extended static performance of up to 45 days, thanks to the barnacle-repellent boost enabled by Selektope.

Later in the year, another new coating product was launched; this time by Danish paint manufacturer Hempel A/S. GLOBIC 9500S is an outfitting coating specifically formulated with Selektope to deliver boosted static performance against hard fouling for idle ships during the outfitting process at shipyards. Its development driven by requests from the shipyards, we are extremely proud that Hempel selected our technology in response to market demand.

Strong demand for Selektope in Asia led I-Tech to enhance local supply chain arrangements. In late 2017, we signed an agreement with well-known chemicals trading company NAGASE & CO., LTD to exclusively handle imports of Selektope to the Japanese market. To date, hundreds of Japanese vessels have been coated with antifoulings containing Selektope, but demand continues to grow strongly. As we sail into 2018, I-Tech will be announcing further partnerships with exclusive import agents across the Asia region in a move to strengthen our supply chains.

Last, but not least. The Selektope.com website underwent a complete transformation in 2017. Now optimised for the increasing number of visitors we are welcoming to the site; our online platform is enriched with resources, videos, information and provides everything you need to know about Selektope – and looks rather great (we think!). If you’re reading this year in review article in our news section, take time to look around the new website.

All that is left to say is that, what a year it has been for Selektope! We look forward to 2018!