Beyond the Sea

05/10/22 • 25 min

Hoisting the sail, a supply chain podcast

This week's guest is Yves Parlier, a legendary sailor and an individual with a passion for innovation.
During the Vendee Globe 2000-2001, Parlier, after a devastating dismasting, completed an ingenious repair to his ship’s wing mast and still managed to finish the race. This achievement, among others, has placed him in the public eye as an extraordinary sailor. He has since then switched careers and is now the CEO of Beyond the Sea.

Beyond the Sea develops kite sails used to tow boats. In 2017, they launched the first towing sail for pleasure boats: the LibertyKite. Soon after, the LibertyKite Second Generation was launched: a kite sail steered by an automatic pilot that will also send and recover the sail. This is an exciting technology and for this episode, Yves joins us with Marine Rialan, project manager at Beyond the Sea, to discuss the potential of kite power.

But what makes the LibertyKite so innovative? For starters, using kite sails is one of the easiest ways to retrofit cargo ships to utilize wind power. Kites are adaptable to all ships and can be attached with ease while retrofitting cargo ships to use sails is more complex and costly. In addition, when kites are not in use there is no drag from the wind or adverse affect to ship performance which cannot be said about sails.

Beyond the Sea is also working on a new project called “SeaLab, '' where they will rebuild a catamaran to be self-sufficient in energy with zero emissions. Parlier hopes to transform the ship into a “laboratory of the sea,” where it will be used to develop new maritime technologies. Beyond the Sea was also selected to receive 1 million Euros in funding from Time for the Planet, biggest citizen community dedicated to global action against greenhouse gases emissions.

Wind has been used for ship propulsion for thousands of years and despite our transition to bunker fuel in the 19th century, Parlier believes the future of maritime shipping lies with wind. Join us in this episode to get a glimpse into Beyond the Seas’s role in innovating the green maritime shipping industry.

Previous Episode

Cargo Owners make the first move

Our guest this week, Geraud Pellat de Villedon, Head of CSR for the supply chain at Michelin, joins us to bring a new perspective on the shipping industry. Michelin, the French tire manufacturer, is one of the largest shippers worldwide, transporting 240,000 TEUs per year. This company has been a leader in innovating ways to be greener since they introduced their green tire technology in the early 90s. Now, they are delving even deeper and making their supply chain environmentally friendly as well.

Michelin is part of Cargo Owners for Zero Emission Vessels (coZEV), which is a coalition of companies that seeks to accelerate maritime shipping decarbonization. However, unlike other companies within the coalition, Michelin refuses to wait for shipping companies to propose a solution and has instead sought out low carbon transportation for their cargo.

Michelin, among a group of 12 European cargo owners, has made a call to bid for a tender to move 1,000 TEUs weekly from Europe to the US on wind-powered vessels that reduce CO2 emissions by 50%. The selected shipping company would fulfill these requirements under the most optimal combination of lead times, carbon dioxide emissions reductions, and cost. Yet a key question remains: why have they chosen to harness the wind instead of opting for low carbon fuels?

Tune in for this episode as we discuss Michelin’s motive for taking such an initiative and how corporate social responsibility fits into the supply chain.

Next Episode

Maiden

This week we take a step back from our usual topic of wind propulsion and decarbonization of the maritime transport to promote a fairly new documentary: “Maiden.”
This documentary tells the story of the first all-woman crew to race around the world on a sailboat named Maiden and how they challenged the male-dominated world of sailing. This endeavor begins with Tracy Edwards who recruited a 12-woman crew to compete in the Whitbread Round the World Race – now known as The Ocean Race.

Dawn Riley, who was one of the crew members on Maiden, joins us on this episode to describe the documentary. She details the incredible story of how the underdogs of a world-renowned competition went on to win 2nd place overall in their class.
On May 18th, the Hudson River Maritime Museum will be the venue for screening the documentary. In addition, between June 8th to the 11th, Maiden will be at the Hudson River Maritime Museum docks and we encourage our listeners to visit. This program is free and open to the public, but donations are encouraged.
For our listeners in New York City, Maiden will also be making a stop at the Brooklyn Marina from June 1st to June 8th. Check out their website for more information on their stop-over schedule and on the Maiden Factor.