Innovation is a cornerstone of the Port of Brest’s development strategy.
Constant monitoring enables us to identify new technologies that can optimise legacy activities (e.g. digital technology), prepare for changes in our work (e.g. new fuels) and capture new business (e.g. Marine Renewable Energies).
Innovation is one of the challenges of the new concession.
At BrestPort, we want to strengthen our capacity for innovation, and to be a pilot site for companies involved in maritime and port innovation.
European projects are not just a means of financing prospective phases.
Rather, they provide the framework for collaboration with other ports, companies and research centres, just like BrestPort, who are striving to find the best solutions for the energy and digital transition.
BrestPort has therefore partnered with 5 new European projects covering the R&D-phase requirements in the fields of energy and the digitalisation of port operations.
The port is also a pilot for the Brittany Region, taking part in the REDII project (covering opportunity analyses for hydrogen (H2) and ammonia).
Under the Esbjerg Declaration, the Channel and North Sea States have committed to the joint development of offshore wind power in the area: more than 65 GW by 2030, 150 GW by 2050 and 20 GW by 2030 for the production of green hydrogen (H2).
This highly ambitious deployment plan is a challenge for the players involved.
In response to this statement, ports, airports and industrial companies in the Channel and North Sea have set up the ‘DIOL’ project.
The aim is to organise a network of platforms (ports/airports) and logistics services capable of meeting their needs in terms of production, rollout, maintenance all while making processes greener.
In addition to technical resource study, DIOL will produce a roadmap for the effective deployment of offshore wind farms in the area, which will include identifying areas for the deployment or storage of wind turbines prior to installation.
Our main objective is to prepare the Port of Brest for these upcoming rollouts, by completing the development studies financed by the Ademe (‘Inflow’ project) and integrating the network of ports/airports in the Channel/North Sea area.
Additional action will be undertaken to make logistics chains greener, and digital optimisation (e.g. access to environmental condition information and modelling component storage areas).
Ports and airports: Esbjerg (coordinator), Nidersachsen ports (Cuxhaven, Emden), Den Helder, Oostende and Brest
Research centres: VIVES (Be), Fraunhofer (De) : drones
Companies: AquaSmart (NL, AUV), Skeydrone (BE, drones), SeaTopic (IS) ; Brittany Aviation (helicopters and drones), H2X (H2)
The Brittany Region and the Port of Nantes will act as observers.
The consortium will set up an interest network to increase involvement from public players, windfarm developers and operators.
Timeframe: 4 years (April 2023 – March 2027)
Project budget : €7,300,000;
◦ BrestPort’s budget: €603,500;
◦ Co-funding 60%:
The decarbonisation targets set by the European Commission are a challenge for the maritime sector. The deadlines are short (30% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030).
The potential alternatives to hydrocarbons are still numerous and too immature to be used in the short term.
LNG, and especially bio-LNG have existing transport networks, and are looking to be the only practicable solutions to ensure success for phase 1 of the energy transition..
With this context in mind, BrestPort has joined a European consortium to develop the ‘GSC’ project.
GSC brings together ports, research institutes and industrialists from the Channel and North Sea area to identify and test solutions that are technically and economically viable in the short term for greening logistics chains around ports: use of bio-fuels, quayside electricity supply, modal shift and analysis of the environmental benefits of the chosen solutions.
The project was submitted in April 2023 to the ‘Interreg’ North Sea interregional cooperation programme and was selected in October 2023.
For the Port of Brest, the objective is to continue the work started in 2023 with the support of GRDF, the Banque des Territoires, the Region and the ‘Movin’On’ network on setting up a bio-GNL production site in the Port of Brest, by means of detailed technical, economic and financial studies.
GSC will also allow members to benefit from the work carried out by the consortium on the various solutions for decarbonising logistics chains, in particular solutions for connecting ships to the quayside or biofuel usage.
GSC is coordinated by the Port of Hamburg and involves the ports of Bergen (Dk), Waalwijk (NL), Kristinehamns and Vänerhamn (Sw), North Sea Port (NL/BE) and Brest.
This consortium also involves companies and transfer centres:
Modility (DE), RISE (Sw), Circoe (FR), and through the network of interest that will be set up at the level of each partner territory and transnationally.
Timeframe: 3 years (Nov. 2023 to Nov. 2026)
Project budget: €3,660,300,
◦ €298,250 for the Port of Brest,
◦ The budgets include 60% European funding.
In response to Europe’s highly ambitious targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, cooperation networks are being set up to study alternatives to the current energy sources of oil and gas.
There is a consensus that hydrogen (H2) is one of these alternatives, in the short-to-long term, for direct or indirect uses (as a component of e-fuels, for example).
In the maritime sector, H2 is still in the planning stage.
To secure its investment choices, BrestPort has joined forces with several European consortia to analyse the conditions for developing the H2 market and to include the port in the maritime H2 import and distribution networks.
‘HYDEA’ is one of these projects.
It brings together ports, research institutes and industrialists in the Atlantic zone, with the aim of identifying and testing technically and economically viable solutions to the energy needs of ports: use as fuel for port logistics and land and sea transport, supplying electricity quayside, etc. The Atlantic area is also considered to be an H2 production zone. The project will therefore study the potential for producing and exporting H2 in the Atlantic zone.
In addition to positioning the Port of Brest in the future maritime H2 transport networks, BrestPort’s objective is to study the technical, economic and financial conditions for using H2 for port requirements, and more specifically for quayside ship connection.
Therefore, HYDEA complements the REDII project (a general study conducted by the Brittany Region into the potential uses of H2), H2 Ports Valley, which focuses on port services for importing, distributing and supplying H2 to ships, and the ‘B-LNG’ project, which aims to supply LNG to port users.
HYDEA is coordinated by EnergyLab (Vigo) and involves the ports of Vigo, Seville, Leixoes and Brest; Cork, Galway, Nantes and Guadalquivir (as associates); the following companies (EODEV, EVO, HIVE) and R&D centres (University of Porto, France Energies Marines, NUI, MTU (Ir).
Timeframe: 3 years (Dec. 2023 to Dec. 2026)
Project budget: €3,432,000
◦ €261,600 for the Port of Brest,
◦ The budgets include 75% funding from Interreg Atlantic Area.
The EU has established hydrogen (H2) as one of the preferred solutions for replacing carbon-based energies, and has set an ambitious target of 10 Mt of H2 production and 10 Mt of H2 imports by 2030.
Within this strategy, the North Sea is seen as a strategic H2 import/export corridor in which ports will play a central role.
Obstacles still need to be overcome to turn this vision into reality.
Close cooperation between ports, infrastructure operators and consumers is needed to harmonise policies, standards and H2 production.
In addition, investment in H2 value chains needs to be stimulated by viable solutions.
In response to this ambition, the NS H2V Ports project aims to create H2 corridors between North Sea ports, by establishing innovative partnerships between ports, H2 producers and consumers.
More specifically, it aims to:
Develop a ‘master plan’ for H2 development in the ports of Brest, Den Helder, Esbjerg and Bremen, as a model for other North Sea ports
Produce a general master plan for the North Sea, including recommendations on import/export strategy
Prepare technical solutions for the use of H2 and derived fuels in ports, including ship design and bunkering solutions, port operations, H2 production, storage and distribution
To create a network for exchanging expertise and experience and for cooperation, paving the way for the establishment of innovative and structuring partnerships
The energy transition in the maritime sector is a complex issue. Cooperation is essential if it is to succeed. The project involves a diverse consortium of partners from industry, science and port/public administration:
New Energy Coalition (Coordinator), North Holland Development Agency,
Institute for Shipping Economics & Logistics (Bremen), Université de Caen, Ballard Power Systems (H2 for heavy transport and logistics),
Ports of Esbjerg (Dk), Brest (Fr), Bremen (De, Hanseatic Stadt), Laholm (municipality, Sw)
Timeframe: 3 years (Jan. 2024 to Dec. 2026)
Project budget: €1,500,000,
◦ Brest’s budget: €137,500;
◦ EU Cofunding percentage: 60%
The maritime sector has been slow to take full advantage of modern digital technology.
The very specific standards defined for charts and navigational aids have isolated this sector from the technical progress of the Internet.
In the event of an accident, exchanges between ship and shore are still mainly voice-based.
The advent of new satellite communication networks, new standards for digital navigation and the widespread use of drones and sensors will considerably improve accident prevention and management, with continuous ‘visual’ land-sea exchanges on the situation on board and around the ship.
OVERHEAT aims to prepare, demonstrate and promote these new means of preventing, detecting and managing accidents on board ships. The scenario chosen is that of a fire on board a container ship and how the ship is handled until it makes it to the receiving port. The results will be applied to other risk types, such as those associated with new fuels.
Over the last 2 years, the Port of Brest has been working with others on digital tools to help manage the entry/exit of ships, including their piloting to the mooring quay or to the dry dock assigned to ship repair.
The current system integrates a range of physical data (quay outlines, position of bollards, cranes, etc.) and environmental data (water level, weather, waves, currents) into the port’s nautical chart. This all goes into recreating a ‘digital reflection’ of the situation on the water. It can be used to prepare and manage the routing of ships in port and play back the sequence of operations.
The aim is to improve these tools by exploiting technological developments (data sharing) and the associated economic models to optimise and secure port operations, particularly in high-risk situations.
Ports : Valencia, Genoa, Brest, Gdyndia, Bremenhaven (associate) and rescue centres
Shipping/logistics companies: Grimaldi, GTS Logistic
R&D: ISSNOVA (Lead, It); IMAT (It) ; ENSM (Fr) ; ISL (De) ; TSASS (Pl)
SMEs: ILOT, TopView (AUV), MODIS, Peopletrust (sensors), SeaTopic (e-nav), Circoe (CRT)
Timeframe: 3 years (Jan. 2024 to Dec. 2026)
Project budget: €7M
◦ BrestPort’s budget: €443,750;
◦ European Co-funding :70%
