Imagine every mussel farm in Europe still hanging their ropes from wooden platforms built decades ago — some up to 50 years old. Each one eats through 25 trees and needs constant repairs while leaking chemicals into the sea. A Spanish team built the Formex® raft from a material that works like artificial stone: it lasts four times longer, needs zero maintenance, and can survive open-sea storms that would destroy wood. It's like replacing a rotting wooden dock with a modular Lego-style platform you snap together in hours.
European mussel farming is losing global market share — production dropped 16% in a decade while the rest of the world grew 20%. A root cause is that farms still use wooden rafts up to 50 years old that require constant maintenance, consume 25 trees each, and leak chemicals into the sea. No alternative material could match wood's flexibility in waves — until now.
The project built and successfully floated the first full-scale Formex® raft prototype using UHC (ultra-high-performance composite comparable to artificial stone). Twenty modular beams were manufactured and assembled, proving both the production process and the floating performance of this new raft design.
If you are a mussel farm operator dealing with aging wooden rafts that cost you in constant repairs and tree replacement — this project developed the Formex® raft, a modular platform made from ultra-high-performance composite that lasts 4x longer with zero maintenance, cutting your production costs by 30%. The prototype has already been built and successfully floated.
If you are a manufacturer of marine equipment looking for new product lines — this project demonstrated a modular raft system using UHC material (comparable to artificial stone) that assembles in hours and withstands open-sea conditions. With EU mussel production down 16% partly due to outdated equipment, there is a clear replacement market across European coastal regions.
If you are in sustainable seafood and your supply chain depends on environmentally certified producers — this project created a raft with an environmental footprint 100 times smaller than wood, eliminating chemical treatments and tree harvesting (25 trees per traditional raft). It could help mussel farming become a zero-emissions sector.
According to the project data, the Formex® raft reduces production costs by 30% compared to wooden rafts. This comes from eliminating maintenance entirely and extending the platform's service life to four times that of wood. For farms running dozens of rafts, this compounds into significant annual savings.
The project built and successfully floated a first full-scale prototype. The objective states the raft remains undamaged even in the worst weather and can be used in open seas where waves are too heavy for wooden rafts. A new raft can be assembled and delivered to a client in less than a week thanks to its modular design.
Formex® is a branded product developed by Prefabricados Lufort SLU, a Spanish SME that also manufactures prefabricated construction materials. The core material (UHC) and modular raft design appear to be proprietary. Based on available project data, licensing terms are not publicly disclosed — direct contact with the company would be needed.
The project states that potential users and authorities have perceived the added value of this innovation. The UHC material is described as comparable to artificial stone, requiring no chemical protective layers, which addresses key environmental concerns. Based on available project data, specific regulatory certifications are not detailed.
The modular design allows assembly in a few hours, and a complete new raft can satisfy a new client in less than a week. The project demonstrated this with 20 beams manufactured, stored, and ready for transport within 2 months of the project start.
While the prototype targets the Galician market (which produces 40% of EU mussels), the open-sea capability actually expands potential to regions where wooden rafts cannot survive. The modular design can likely be adapted to different raft configurations used across European coastal areas.
This is a lean, industry-only consortium of 2 Spanish SMEs with no universities or research institutes — a strong signal of commercial intent rather than academic exploration. The coordinator, Prefabricados Lufort SLU, is a prefabricated construction company, which means the core material expertise (UHC composites) comes from an existing manufacturing business applying its know-how to aquaculture. The 100% industry ratio and SME-only composition suggest this technology was built to sell, not to publish papers. The single-country focus (Spain) makes sense given Galicia's dominance in EU mussel production, though it may limit initial market reach beyond Iberian waters.
Prefabricados Lufort SLU is a Spanish construction materials SME based in Galicia. Contact likely through their corporate website or industry trade events.
Want an introduction to the Formex® team? SciTransfer can connect you with the coordinator and provide a detailed technology brief tailored to your specific aquaculture or marine infrastructure needs.
