The market
The market value of global container shipping services was estimated in 2010 at 480 billion dollars. This mode of transport transported a total combined total of 500 million standard containers in more than 600 billion kilometers in the same year. The loading capacity of the global container fleet increased from 4 million containers in 2000 to 12.5 million today. Containeurized maritime freight flows should maintain a growth rate of 6.9 % in the decade 2008-2017. Experts provide that Intercontinental Asia/Europe trade will experience the fastest growth with an average of 9.8 % in volume and 9 % in turnover since Europe is considered to be five years late on states- United with regard to production transfer to Asia. The attraction of ocean containers is obvious in the fuel cost reported to each EVP (Equivalent twenty feet): transporting a container from Shanghai to Atlanta is cheaper than from Guadalajara (Mexico) to Atlanta. The global containerized transport network is the spine of the globalized supply chain which carries around 60 % of the value of global trade and more than 90 % of its volume. The value chain that puts a container from the sender to the recipient covers five separate sectors: (1) Origin, routing and acquisition of ability of shipments, (2) containers, (3) the Exploitation of ships, (4) loading and unloading of shipments, and (5) delivery inside the country. The exploitation of ships represents half of the total cost, while loading and unloading reach 17 %. Hamburg becomes the Center for the financing and operating of new ships. Germany has 35 % of container ships (1,644 out of 4,619) and nearly 60 maritime banks and investors have their registered office there. AP Møller-Maersk (Denmark), which has acquired P & O Nedlloyd, is the leading global maritime operator with more than € 43 billion billing in 2010. The transport of containers has revolutionized global manufacturing. It costs $ 10 to send an Asian TV in Europe, $ 1 for a vacuum cleaner and 1 Cent for a bottle of beer. It is even cheaper in the other direction. The inexpensive cost of shipping means that it is worth sending Spanish tomatoes to China for the transformation into ketchup, then to re -specify them in Europe for consumption. However, new research shows that in a single year, a large container carrier emits the same volume of pollutants as 50 million diesel cars. Cargos are powered by a lower quality hold fuel which contains up to 2,000 times the quantity of sulfur emitted by diesel automobiles. The largest container carrier in the world belonging to Maersk can transport 15,200 containers of 40 feet at a constant speed of almost 50 km/h and consume 380 tonnes of fuel per day at sea.
Innovation
The fuel used in ships consists of waste from oil and refining residues. It is the cheapest energy source available. All ships around the world burn 7.3 million barrels per day together, which is equivalent to the production of Saudi Arabia. This makes maritime transport from afar the largest transport pollutor in the world, emitting - according to the Guardian - 260 times more sulfur oxide than the entire world fleet. The 15 largest ships in the world emit as many SOX (sulfur dioxide) as the 760 million cars in the world. The United Nations International Maritime Organization (IMO) indicates that the current fleet could save up to 10 % energy and that a new ship could adopt technologies to reduce consumption by 30 %. Nuclear energy has been promoted as an alternative energy source for ships. There are 150 ships in operation that use nuclear propulsion, most submarines. However, the nuclear option is widely discarded due to the complexity of maintenance and risk factors in the event of an accident. The transition to clean fuel would increase costs and exert pressure on oil prices while leaving the industry a lower quality product which has no buyers. Vatche Artinian is an American of Armenian origin, holder of a master's degree in electrical engineering and an MBA from the University of Southern California, after having obtained a baccalaureate in electrical and computer engineering from California State Polytechnic University . It was fascinated by the ruffles of inertia used since the Bronze Age to store kinetic energy. It realized that the new technology of high -speed motors, combined with magnetic bearings, makes it possible to effectively store energy. Mr. Artinian and his team have built energy storage systems based on a magnetic engine which can operate continuously to rapid rates (12 seconds of discharge, 18 seconds of idle, 12 seconds of charging and 18 seconds of idle) . The team completed these conceptions with magnetic levels which make the wheel of inertia levitate, turning the unit up to 60,000 laps per minute (RPM) without friction or heat. The team realized that the magnetic bearings reduce maintenance to almost nothing since there is no bearing to replace or lubricant to fill. Mr. Artinian (Chairman of the Council) and Larry Hawkins (Head of Technology) then created Calnetix, a private high -tech company which has become, in the past 20 years, a leader in the field of high engines Speed, magnetic bearings and magnetic training for distributed energy systems. In 2004, they decided to develop their technology of inertia flies and created Vycon, a company that designs and manufactured ruffles of energy storage at high speed. After having first managed to demonstrate this technology, the company managed to bring together $ 13.7 million in 2010 with American, Danish and New Zealand investors to strengthen production and meet increased demand clean energy storage.
The first cash flow
A mobile crane can load and remove a container from a truck or a rail car on a container carrier in about a minute. Mr. Artinian realized that the lifting power and the energy necessary to time the fall requires a lot of fuel. In fact, this action represents the second most important cost of transporting containers, after that of the exploitation of the ship itself. Mobile cranes are powered by on -board diesel generators. When the crane lifts, the energy is drawn, and during the lowering and braking of the regenerated power is sent to a resistor battery where it is dissipated. Vycon has designed and now delivers ruffles of inertia that recover and store this ready -to -use energy in the next elevator, thus reducing energy consumption by 30 to 35 %, thus reducing noise and improving lifespan of the generator. The inertia steering wheel works with precision and reliability such that Vycon provides its customers with a 20 -year warranty. This technology can be installed later on existing cranes, which makes it possible to save immediate savings. The first system was installed at the long Beach, California container terminal, where it has been operational since May 2006.
The opportunity
This application in the container industry represents only a tiny reduction in dramatic emissions from the maritime transport industry. However, the same inertia steering wheel system that has proven itself on this large scale is a platform technology which represents an alternative to lead-acid batteries used as a rescue solution for power supply without cuts (assi ) necessary for data centers and servers. This technology allows information storage and communication networks with an alternative without battery. This Vycon technology received in April 2011 the seismic certification of the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) in California after trials demonstrated normal operation before, during and after a simulated seismic activity. Existing operations demonstrate that the technology of inertia flies has a return on investment (king) of two and a half years, surpassing the total cost of possession of a traditional UPS system powered by battery. Vycon was appointed by Inc. magazine for two consecutive years (2010 and 2011) as one of the most enterprising private companies and the fastest growth in America with a growth in three years of a bit of a little Less than 800 %, the highest in the energy sector for the United States. Levitation -based technologies that work stable and safe over long periods of time, offering better service at a lower cost is certainly part of the blue economy innovations portfolio.
