Miko Marine AS company and the ShipArrestor project.

Project description:

The ShipArrestor project has developed a large scale sea anchor and a connector made from light weight steel chain, enabling the prevention of environmental and economic disasters that are the potential outcome of tanker emergencies.
Attaching a towline to a disabled vessels is never easy, particularly not when you need it the most - in bad weather when the vessel is drifting towards a lee shore or an oil rig.
ShipArrestor consists of a chain lasso for connecting to the anchor windlass or a similar strong point, a 200 m long towline and a large scale sea anchor fitted at the end
of the towline. ShipArrestor is 100 % helicopter applied, meaning it is possible to tow a vessel in distress without setting rescue personnel aboard the ship. ShipArrestor will radically reduce the ship drift rate, but more importantly put the casualty’s bow up against the weather and radically reduce the bow’s roll motion and the associated wave impact forces on the ship.
ShipArrestor has been developed by a consortium initiated and led by Miko Marine AS, and was launched in the market as a commercial product on 1 December 2010.

Coordinator: Miko Marine AS

Working in the international maritime industry, Miko's philosophy is to develop solutions to protect property and the environment. The company was established in the early 1970s and has since then developed new tools and associated services for the marine industry. The company was founded on the invention of Miko Plaster® - a heavy duty magnetic patch used to prevent a ship from sinking by stopping a leakage of sea-water into a floating vessel, or to stop a leak of oil from the vessel into the sea. Today, Miko’s product range has expanded and the company’s customers include commercial shipping companies, oil companies, navies from many countries, diving companies and underwater operators, tug and salvage companies, insurance companies, oil pollution authorities and several others. Miko focuses on cost-effective, safe and innovative solutions to their customers’ problems.

Project partners:

SMEs:

NorLense AS (Norway)
A. Haberkorn (Austria)
OPUS Marine GmbH (Germany)

Others:

Le Floch Depollution (France)

RTD:

Teknologisk Institutt as (Norway)
The Ship Stability Research Centre (UK)
Dr. Vernikov Magnetics Ltd. (Netherlands)

Interview with Nicolai Michelsen, of Miko Marine AS:

Why did you decide to participate in the FP7?

Miko Marine decided to initiate a FP7 project because we believed it would be an opportunity to gain necessary focus and resources to develop a new and innovative salvage tool as an important addition to our product portfolio. The ShipArrestor tool can be applied by authorities in coastal countries throughout Europe. Consequently, the project objectives were considered to suit the FP7 funding scheme “Research for the benefit of SMEs” very well. The funding opportunity offered by the EU was regarded a highly positive solution compared to the alternative that Miko Marine would have to conduct all the research and technological development with their own resources – a huge and risky task for an SME.
Most of the project partners already had good contacts with one or more of the other partners in the project consortium. Consequently, the cooperation was foreseen to run smoothly, adding to Miko’s eagerness to initiate and run the ShipArrestor project.

What were the advantages of collaborating with the foreign partners?

There were several important advantages of collaborating with foreign business partners in the ShipArrestor project. The exchange of experience among highly qualified personnel within the different fields of expertise, as well as transfer of knowledge between the consortium partners were considered highly valuable. Also, Miko Marine experienced how an international project improves international cross-cultural, -political and -personal understanding. The business network created by the ShipArrestor project did, moreover, make it easier to conduct many of the tests involved in the project which might otherwise have been much more time consuming and expensive to implement.

What were the difficulties that you met?

The project consortium faced some technological challenges during the project period. In the beginning of the project, the partners had difficulties developing a system that was both light enough to be transported easily, and stable at the same time. Moreover, the different tests that were conducted were not always successful on the first attempt. Also, the partners sometimes had conflicting problem solving strategies creating barriers that had to be overcome in order to achieve the necessary advancement in the project’s technological development. However, it was also in this area that the largest benefits of the ShipArrestor project were found: By exchanging experience and describing realistically e.g. sea conditions and typical salvage situations.

What kind of advice can you give to SMEs that are willing to participate in the FP7, Research for SMEs?

I would like to give the following advice to SMEs that are willing to participate in “Research for SMEs”: Express clearly what you expect to gain from the project. Do not become overwhelmed by the economic figures as the vast majority of the project budget will be transferred to the Research Technology Developers who will come up with new technological solutions on behalf of the SMEs. Take a clear managing role in the project consortium.

Plast-sveis AS and the ClosedFishCage project

Vebjörn Walderhaug, NCP SME Norway

 
Project description:

ClosedFishCage is a closed, escape proof, constant volume, sea based cage for fish farming.
Among the innovative elements of the cage are a very durable and flexible polymer plastic net pen, a predator guard, a control system, and the possibility of easy set-up and replacement of damaged cage parts. The technological solutions developed in the ClosedFishCage project will preserve advantages of land based fish farming while at the same time taking advantage of the cost-efficiency of sea based fish farming. The new cage system will also be substantially more environmentally friendly than existing fish farming technologies. Consequently, ClosedFishCage will result in new technology enabling increased use of sea based fish farming, thus greatly widening the possibilities of fish farming technology.
The ClosedFishCage technology will improve the competitiveness of SMEs in the aquaculture sector and secure the potential production of good quality fish in sufficient quantities at competitive prices, thus, holding the possibility to counteract current problems of near depletion of certain EU fishery stocks, reduced annual catch quotas and reduced fishing fleets.

Coordinator: Plast-sveis AS

Plast-sveis is specialized in aquaculture technology and, although an SME, is the largest Norwegian company involved in product development, welding and processing of prefabricates and constructions made of Polyethylene (PE). Presently, Plast-sveis is the only Norwegian total supplier of aquaculture fish farming tanks made of PE. Plast-sveis’ primary expertise regarding fish cages concerns production of cage ring structures. However, the company also manufactures and assembles floating collars, railways, pipes, vents and other necessary equipment made of PE for sea based cages. Among others, the company has developed its own clamp for fish cages, focusing particularly on strength, stability and low degree of fouling. As a result of its business activities, Plast-sveis has a very good overview of the fish farming industry, including its projection and product development plans, making them very suitable as an initiator of a “Research for SMEs” project.

Project partners:

SMEs:

Buraschi Italia s.r.l. (Italy)
Studsgaard AS (Denmark)
Artec Aqua AS (Norway)
SeaFarm Systems ApS (Denmark)
Cultivos Marinos Del Maresme SA (Spain)

End-users:

Fjord Marin Holding ASA (Norway)

 
RTDs:

Seawork (Scotland) Ltd. (UK)
Teknologisk Institutt as (Norway)
Politechnika Gdanska (Poland)
Technologías Avanzadas Inspiralia SL (Spain)

Interview with Trond Johannessen, Plast-sveis AS:

Why did you decide to participate in the FP7?

Plast-sveis AS has participated in several “Research for the benefit of SMEs” projects within the EU’s 5th and 6th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP). Even though we have had both good and less than good experiences in former EU projects, we never had any doubts that the development of ClosedFishCage was particularly well suited for funding through “Research for SMEs” in FP7.

The idea to develop a closed cage for fish farming is a relatively old one, however, it has been actualized during the last 3-4 years as the Norwegian and international aquaculture industry has been, and still is, facing increasing environmental challenges. The development of a closed fish cage is technologically very demanding, including several interdisciplinary challenges, e.g. regarding the strength of functional design, water quality as well as material requirements.

Because of these challenges it has been necessary to carry out a variety of tests of theoretical character, both in order to verify the technical solutions, but also to prepare for certification of the cage according to national and international standards. For a small company with a relatively small amount of theoretical knowledge and limited financial resources, such as Plast-sveis, the EU FP7 is an excellent opportunity to enable technical and commercial product development.

What were the advantages of collaborating with the foreign partners?

The international nature of “Research for SMEs” projects posed important advantages when searching for and selecting competent and complementary partners to perform the technical work, documentation and verification of the ClosedFishCage project results. Even though Norwegian actors in the field of aquaculture – both companies and R&D institutions – are among the most competent in the world when it comes to technological and biological management of aquaculture farms, we do not necessarily possess the necessary competence regarding choice of optimal materials to be used in aquaculture constructions. Consequently, the inclusion of foreign project partners was key to the project’s success.

Furthermore, initiating the ClosedFishCage project has enabled Plast-sveis to gain new competences and build up experience through intensive contact with foreign companies and R&D institutions. The majority of our annual turnover is a result of domestic market activities. However. we also have clear international ambitions and, consequently, greatly appreciate the usefulness of ClosedFishCage in accumulating international business experience.

Norwegian salmon production has several distinctive national characteristics, both when it comes to the salmon’s biological life cycle as well as circumstances related to weather, wind and ocean currents. The forces of nature affecting a closed fish cage will vary from the Mediterranean Sea to the Norwegian coast, and the production of sea-bass and sea-bream has other biological requirements and challenges than the production of Norwegian salmon. Knowledge about these factors of vital importance to the ClosedFishCage project, was mainly gained through close cooperation between Plast-sveis and our international project partners.

What were the difficulties that you met?

Although the EU projects that Plast-sveis has participated in so far have been of varying character and had varying technological content, the challenges faced are often quite similar. Some of the challenges have a more general character and are the same for every project implemented by a company. Research and development activities are challenging for any company, as they often have to be conducted in parallell with our daily business and running activities. Prioritizing resources, both human and financial, in the most efficient way is consequently a large and important task.

Setting up an optimal consortium is maybe the largest challenge in a ”Research for SMEs” project. For a small company such as ours, operating in a small region in Norway, product and service development commonly happens through close cooperation between companies which have an already established business relation and know each other well. Often, these business partners are located in each others immidiate geographical vicinity, maybe even within the same industry cluster. Such common experiences and co-localisation do not exist between partners in an EU project. Furthermore, differences in languages may pose challenges to cooperation within the consortium. However, in my opinion, neither of these challenges should scare anyone away from participating in an ”Research for SMEs” project as the benefits of such project participation will easily outnumber the challenges and problems.

Another substantial challenge in an international research project has been to retain project continuity and progress. Even though detailed meeting, project and milestone schedules are produced, it might turn out to be difficult to keep up the positive pressure and work intensity during the whole project period of 2 years.

As an SME participant in an EU project, it is also important to be aware of that the majority of the EU grant is earmarked for funding the research and development activities carried out on behalf of the SMEs by the R&D participants. For a small company with limited resources it may sometimes be difficult to show the necessary ”buyer’s competence” in a situation like this. Often, the company may be more focused on and interested in e.g. building a prototype, something that EU funding only to a very limited extent can support. Consequently, Plast-sveis found it important to secure good communication with the R&D institutions in order to secure that both the necessary theoretical and practical aspects of the product development are taken into account.

What kind of advice can you give to SMEs that are willing to participate in the FP7, Research for SMEs?

I would give the SMEs interested in participating in the FP7 “Research for SMEs” the following advice:

1. Define your business idea and assess your competence as a buyer of R&D services
2. Be very active in the process of finding and selecting consortium partners as well as when preparing the Description of Work and project budgets. Do not hand over all of this responsibility and decisions to the R&D institutions even if you to a large extent are depending on such a partner in order to establish your project.
3. If relevant, focus on building a prototype and try to complete this work as early as practically possible. Building a prototype creates engagement, commitment and enthusiasm and furthermore secures progress in a project.
4. You need, however, also to be realistic when estimating the costs related to developing a prototype. The funding available for such tasks is often less than what one might wish.
5. Be active and devote considerable time and resources to fulfil formal EU requirements when it comes to e.g. reporting tasks. These requirements are often more demanding than it may seem at first sight. Also, take into consideration that the EU is continuously changing its systems and rules of management - be flexible!
6. Consider closely what consequences an open technology development process versus a process including patenting might have for the technological transparency during the project’s development phase.
7. Generally, focus on the value chain, cost-benefit considerations, the customer needs and demands as well as the commercialisation of the project results throughout the whole project period.