French Consortium Shows ZEST for Zero-Emission, Safe Transfer Crew Transfer Vessels

Five France-based companies have formed the ZEST industrial consortium to produce zero-emission & safe transfer crew transfer vessels. (CTVs).

Louis Dreyfus Armateurs, Mauric, Barillec Marine, SEAir, and ADV Propulse have been working for three months on the development of a prototype CTV which is said to be safer when transferring personnel and tends towards “zero emissions”.

Scheduled to emerge in 2025, the ZEST CTV is expected to provide a safer and more efficient transfer of wind turbine maintenance personnel, due to what is described as excellent sea navigation characteristics and the integration of sea state monitoring systems.

In comparison to the current market for wind turbine maintenance personnel transfer vessels, the ZEST CTV will offer a more suitable and secure solution for transfer operations at sea, will be more manageable, and better suited to maintenance operations, the partners said.

The vessel will operate with low energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions thanks to the combination of innovative technological bricks and an optimized architecture. The use of recyclable composite materials will improve the environmental impact from the construction of the ship until its dismantling. All of these impacts will be assessed through a Life Cycle Analysis.

The design studies of the ZEST CTV and the associated technological bricks are currently being carried out, in parallel with a technical and economic study.

The technological building blocks of the project are an innovative CTV architecture with foils; innovative trochoidal thrusters; the integration of zero-emission GHG energy system solutions; an innovative energy consumption management system; a wave monitoring and floating object detection system; and,depending on market needs, an adapted dynamic positioning system.

At the end of this study phase, the consortium will aim for a first commercial order which will allow the construction of a demonstrator. This demonstrator will be tested in real conditions over a period of six months to validate its level of operational safety and its technical, economic, and environmental performances.

The technological bricks developed within the framework of this project will be suitable for CTVs or other types of ships, the partnerst said. Indeed, ZEST is only one possible application for these technological bricks and will thus be a showcase demonstrating their efficiency in a context of pressing constraints to reduce the carbon footprint of maritime activities.