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“Circularity is one of the most efficient ways of competing with the environmental challenges today,” said Roseanne van Houwelingen, the moderator of the last session, Circular Economy for Workboats, of the Seawork Get Set for Workboat 2050 conference in Rotterdam.
Project manager – Innovation Maritime & Offshore NL, she has long promoted the R’s – Reduce/Re-use/Re-manufacture and Recycle – as part of her organisation’s efforts to reduce industry’s dependency on raw materials and also stay competitive.
One of the solutions presented was 3D printing, which had been demonstrated with an impressive 8m hull at the Europort exhibition, also in Rotterdam, last November.
Bob de Reus, 3D printing engineer with Royal3D, said the sector needed to approach new tools with an open mind.
“Use less materials,” he said. “Smaller assets need less energy to move around and less materials to build.” His company’s 3D printing, he said, was flexible, could be used autonomously and used a fully recyclable yet durable thermoplastic material. A USV, for example, could be designed, printed, used then shredded and something else built with the same material.
“You can have interchangeable hulls, and we can print up to eight metres in one go,” he said.
“We have a cradle-to-cradle mindset – we can print a cradle for wind turbines, then shred it, and print another one.”
Holding the industry back, however, was its own mindset, he said: “The maritime sector is too conservative and should embrace new technologies faster. The technology is here but the adaption is lagging behind.”
Other approaches
There is a lot to circularity: Roseanne van Houwelingen talked about how Damen was working with cable makers Alewijnse from the beginning of the cable design rather than once it was finished, which was an example of ‘integration’ that could improve efficiency.
Peter Curtis, Customer Finance Director with Isle of Wight-based Diverse Marine, said vessels had come back to the shipyard after 10 years, been ‘cut in the middle’, extended by three or four metres and given an overhaul, after which they had gone on for another 10 years.
Sometimes a circular approach was the only one that made sense, said Daniel Biegel, Lead Circular with Heerema Marine Contractors.
“Our vessel Balder was built in 1978 and is still working at 40+ years old,” he said. “Circular maintenance is a cost-efficient approach. We build to last, we build to repair. We have a large, skilled crew on board, lots of spare parts – our ships are big, and they are basically floating shipyards. If we don’t have spare parts we can make them.
“We don’t just replace it, we always try and make it, extend the lifetime as long as we can.”
Image; Still going strong after almost 50 years: Balder, the world's first semi-submersible crane vessel
