Published in UIMM’S FUSIONS magazine: Supporting the energy transition of ships
Barillec Marine works with shipyards and shipowners to design, manufacture, install and maintain on-board systems to make ships more energy efficient and less polluting.
Barillec produces dashboards for ships that are conventionally-powered or that use cleaner energy.
Shipowners are encouraged to be more frugal
Hybrid or electric propulsion, propulsion using liquefied natural gas (LNG) or hydrogen, and so on:
Barillec Marine uses all types of energy to reduce the emissions of ships. “To find the right solution, we focus first and foremost on the environmental expectations, budget and technical constraints of our clients,” explained Olivier Sanquer, President of Barillec and manager of the marine business line.
Marine electricians design, manufacture and install the system that manages the energy produced on-board ships, be they new ships (for the majority of French shipyards) or maintaining ships in operational condition and improving them during their service life (for owners).
A stronger design department
To offer a wide range of solutions to substitute diesel combustion engines for alternative energies, Barillec expanded its design department, which now employs about fifty people. And the business unit still regularly recruits engineers, technicians and fitters in the electrical engineering, automation and IT areas. “Supporting energy transition is a field that attracts and appeals to candidates. It’s very motivating.” To be consistent with these values, Barillec has also launched a plan to reduce its own environmental footprint, with the aim of cutting its emissions by 40% by 2030.
Designing cleaner ships is one of the company’s key priorities. The regulatory and economic constraints, as well as rising environmental awareness, are pushing shipowners to be more frugal. The first oil crisis in the seventies triggered the shift towards more economical propulsions. But the environmental factor only became a real consideration at the turn of the century. We built our first electric-diesel hybrid propulsion ship in 2002: the “Diamant”, a cruise ship on the Seine. We have been working on a growing number of projects ever since. Barillec Marine worked on the LNG dredger at the port of Bordeaux, L’Ostrea, for one of the luxury cruise company Ponant’s ships. We are currently working on converting around a hundred ships for the Paris port community.
OLIVIER SANQUER
President, BARILLEC