An Isle of Man based maritime green technologies start-up, ExoTechnologies is launching the world’s first fully recyclable, high-performance workboat range, with the boatyard's first commercial vessel delivered to Police Scotland.

The vessel is built from fully recyclable DANUTM composite material technology and according to Ultimate Boats (the Glasgow boatyard owned by ExoTechnologies) says DANUTM is the most resource-efficient composite material on the planet. The Police Scotland boat has a top speed of 50 knots and operating range of 400 nautical miles.

The deal with Police Scotland, represents the culmination of a £7 million investment in research and development by ExoTechnologies. The boat is the first of a new range being built at Ultimate Boats, the Glasgow boatyard which has plans to create 300 jobs at the yard within five years.

ExoTechnologies CEO, Shane Mugan said: “We are proud that this pioneering and internationally significant project is being delivered in Scotland, by our talented Clyde-based workforce, in partnership with Police Scotland.

“To witness the world’s first ever fully recyclable boat, in action, made from our fully recyclable DANUTM composite material technology is incredibly rewarding after years of research and development.

“Police Scotland’s boat marks a significant breakthrough in transforming boat building, as our fully recyclable DANUTM composite material technology of superior mechanical strength has replaced fibreglass entirely, currently the most common form of boat building substance.“DANUTM has the potential to tackle the ecological timebomb which sees 250 million kilos of fibreglass and thousands of boats dumped into landfill across Europe each year.

Mike Golding OBE, one of the world’s most accomplished and successful offshore sailors and chairman of World Sailing Sustainability Commission 2030 said: “Since its broad introduction in the 1950s, fibreglass and composite materials have totally transformed the sport of sailing. Today, as we move into an ‘age of sustainability’ it is crucial that all future boat construction adapts and becomes fully circular. Encouragingly, I have seen many hybrid composite solutions developed but DANUTM is quite possibly the most complete – offering, at end of life, the potential to reuse both the fibres and resin whilst performing better than comparable construction systems.”

Jeroen Wats, ExoTechnologies Chief Innovation Officer and ocean yacht racing veteran said: “the high-performance boat being delivered to Police Scotland also features our advanced ExoHullTM technology designed and developed by Ultimate Boats internationally renowned chief designer, John Moxham.

“What John has done is to reimagine planing hull technology and hydrodynamic performance using principles that were first conceived during the development of the XB-70 Valkyrie supersonic bomber. This enhances performance across all of our commercial workboat and tactical range producing intuitive handling, seakeeping capabilities, directional stability and comfort. It has been really amazing to work with Police Scotland and see them benefit from this revolutionary technology.”

ExoTechnologies approached Police Scotland in July 2020 with an opportunity to co-design a purpose-built boat which would be offered on a research and development loan for operational use. It will be loaned to Police Scotland for a three-year period with an agreement in place which covers the cost of insurance, maintenance and servicing.

Assistant Chief Constable Mark Williams, lead for Operational Support, said: “This unique opportunity should allow us to benefit from a high performing asset that will make a positive difference to our capability.

“We have a duty to explore new projects that look to improve the working environment for our officers and staff, as well as the response we can provide to the public. We have been working closely with Ultimate Boats and will continue to provide feedback as the officers look forward to using this asset operationally.”

Mr Mugan said the Police Scotland deal is only the beginning for ExoTechnologies as it seeks to grow globally.“This project demonstrates an example of a green transition pathway within the maritime industry,” he said.

“Ultimate Boats’ full high-performance workboat range includes a 13M crew transfer vessel, 11.5M multi-mission workboat and 7.5M support workboat which have already attracted significant interest from commercial operators and military.

“We are preparing to engage with potential investors and strategic partners to scale our company to realise the potential of our market leading technologies capable of accelerating the green transition to a circular economy across all industries and markets.”

The Waterford based Maritime Expert Ireland (MEI), a maritime survey firm working in the major European ports of Rotterdam, Antwerp and Amsterdam conducted a digital inspection of a combination carrier.

The combination carrier's (a vessel that can be either a bulk-carrier and petroleum tanker) cargo hold had involved using high resolution 3D images gathered by the ship’s crew and uploaded on DNV’s Veracity system.

Safety is always an issue with these types of surveys given the dangers inherent in entering a cargo hold, particularly onboard oil tankers. Working with the shipowner’s crew, Norway’s Klaveness Combination Carriers, MEI were able to eliminate the everyday risks of going into cargo holds to conduct the survey, as well as the current risk of Covid transmission in an industry already sensitive to it’s impact on the global supply chain.

Capt. Johan Voogt commented “Apart from the safety concerns, conducting surveys in this manner allows the vessels and the charterers to save a lot of time and money. Physical surveys can be impacted by weather, port waiting periods, etc. By not having to go aboard all parties have avoided the ocean and land-based transport and the obvious time and emissions savings.”

He further stated, “Having incredibly safety conscious charterers, in this case Vitol, a major global energy and commodities trader and significant charterer of these unique types of combination vessels, is a notable endorsement of a solution that can be adopted by the shipping industry worldwide.”

MEI is a leading maritime survey firm based in the Port of Waterford’s new Belview port buildings at Marine Point. The company carries out a range of specialist surveys for its clients across Europe. It’s team of surveyors are Irish-based but spend 2 weeks on/2 weeks off surveying vessels, predominantly in the ports of Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Antwerp. The company has seen rapid growth over the past 24 months expanding it’s survey team and actively recruiting in the Irish market.

A CO2-based charge, backed by multiple countries and a major trade organization, is not billed as a tax and isn’t intended to change shippers’ behavior.

Shipping’s global regulator signalled that a tiny CO2-based charge on vessels’ fuel consumption will not be approved at a meeting this week, underscoring the challenge facing the industry in its bid to decarbonise.

While the proposed price is low, the levy is significant because it would be the first ever mandatory, global “fee-based” carbon price, according to the World Bank. The plan was discussed at international talks on Wednesday and, with many countries raising concerns, provisionally deferred to a future meeting.

The plan, backed by multiple countries and a major trade organization, is not billed as a tax and isn’t intended to change shippers’ behavior. Instead, the idea is to raise about $5bn (€4.3bn) for research and development into clean fuels and propulsion systems for international shipping, which is almost exclusively powered by oil and spews more CO2 into the atmosphere than Germany and the Netherlands combined.

More from the Irish Examiner whose coverage originally is accredited to Bloomberg.