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GAND – The new environmental commitments presented in recent months by the European Commission concern many industrial sectors. Not only the best known, such as construction or the car, but also maritime transport. While the difficult legislative negotiation between Parliament and the Council continues in Brussels, a very small Belgian company born a few kilometers from the North Sea is using artificial intelligence to help reduce the fuel consumption of tankers and container carriers.
Sea transport is one of the most polluting supply chains. According to the European Commission, it represents 3% of CO2 emissions in the world. The “Fit for 55” legislative proposals provide that the sector must also comply with the rules of the ETS market for trading harmful emissions. Furthermore, Brussels proposes to reduce the greenhouse gas intensity of fuel used by ships by 2% in 2025, 6% in 2030 and 75% in 2050, compared to 2020 levels.
Casimir Morobé is 24 years old. Having just graduated in management engineering from the University of Ghent, he founded Toqua a little over 14 months ago, a start-up funded by IMEC, an important inter-university research center specializing in microtechnology based in Leuven, in Flemish Belgium. Originally from Bruges, our interlocutor is a sailing enthusiast. Today he collaborates with some of the most important world shipowners: among others, Euronav and Berge Bulk.
“There are three ways to improve the energy efficiency of ships – explains the young entrepreneur in his offices, in an elegant Hôtel de Maître on the banks of a canal in Ghent -. The first is the one that optimizes routes and maintenance. The second involves structural changes, starting with air lubrication. The third points to a change of fuel, for example by focusing on hydrogen. This last trend is still to come. We focus on the first front ».
Fuel consumption depends on a multitude of factors: boat speed, wind direction and strength, wave height and direction, water salinity and temperature, currents, and of course the load. and its arrangement in the ship. “In the past, captains manually collected information on Beaufort speed, fuel consumption and conditions every 24 hours. Then particularly meticulous sensors appeared, capable of recording data minute by minute ».