Port Revel Introduces Green Shiphandling

Pending the issue of more stringent measures by international institutions, Port Revel believes that the time has come to help raise the awareness of mariners responsible for manoeuvring large ships in harbor areas by providing them with ways of reducing fuel consumption and consequently CO2 and dust emissions in sensitive environments.

With this “Clean Shiphandling” principle in mind, Port Revel has equipped two of its eleven ships with sensors for measuring total energy consumption during a given shiphandling operation. Trainees are thus challenged to carry out the operation in question with a target level of consumption (and hence atmospheric emissions) fixed in advance by the Centre’s instructors, who have themselves already faced the same challenge.

Tests carried out with these models have shown that Port Revel perfectly masters the modelling techniques involved, and that similitude scales are perfectly maintained. This is yet further proof that nature (in the form of hydraulic conditions) is at work on the models as on real ships, without it being necessary to write out all the equations for the hydraulic phenomena involved. The realism of the scale models is unequalled and, for the moment, has not been surpassed by any other means of simulation.

It may be recalled that in 2009, Sogreah (now ARTELIA), a firm of consulting engineers working in the fields of water, energy and the environment, launched the "Otello," a 1:25 scale model of 335 metres, 8 500 TEU container carriers. This event was part of the celebrations to mark the extension of its shiphandling training centre: Port Revel. To open the 2010 season, Sogreah launched the latest addition to its fleet, the “Q-Max,” a faithful reproduction of a 345-metre LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) carrier with a capacity of 266,000 m3. Thanks to this latest model, sailors can now train on a ship which represents the new giants now sailing the seas.

The Port Revel development program was launched in October, 2007, and represents an investment of over one million euros, consolidating the centre's worldwide leadership in training pilots in shiphandling operations. By extending the lake to cover a total of 5 hectares, of which 50 percent is shallow water, doubling the number of quays and installing additional current-generating equipment, Port Revel can now offer an extremely varied range of situations and host 10 trainees each week, as opposed to 8 previously.