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Porcher Industries & Yves Parlier to make kites for cargo
12 Jun '18
2 min read
The sports and leisure business unit of Porcher Industries, a leading manufacturer of fabrics for paragliding and a technical textiles company, and sailing legend Yves Parlier have joined hands for a new project. The ambitious project named ‘Beyond the Sea’ is involved in making cargo ships sustainably powered by kites, saving 20 per cent of fuel costs.
In exploring alternatives to the vast amounts of pollution that bigger boats cause through fuel consumption, sails set a historic precedent – at least when the wind can be fully exploited. There are, however, a number of advantages kites have over sails. There are also considerable aerodynamic advantages to be gained from the kite being flown at height above the vessel, through the exploitation of drag.
Beyond the Sea brings together Yves Parlier’s company, Yves Parlier Océa, with the Marseille-headquartered shipping group CMA CGM, the Ensta Bretagne engineering college in Brest, Cousin Trestec a leader in rope manufacturing of Wervicq-Sud, and technical textiles leader Porcher Industries.
With a €15 million grant from regional authorities for development work, Beyond the Sea has now reached the stage of launching its first product, the LibertyKite, intended as an emergency system for small boats of up to 18 metres or so in length.
Daniel Costantini, sports and leisure, head of sales Porcher said, “The fabric we are currently producing for the LibertyKite is a lightweight, high tenacity polyester ripstop fabric that is specially woven and finished in-house by Porcher Industries. The LibertyKite is a very simple system which doesn’t need an auto-pilot or electronics, but it could be very useful if a mast should break or an engine fails. In fact, it could save your life, or that of your boat, allowing you to steer clear of any dangers and get back to shore. It’s very robust, but also extremely light and packs very small.”
Yves Parlier said, “We are already now trialling kites of fifty square metres on two 30-metre-long fishing boats off the coasts of Canada and France. The system employed is much more complicated than LibertyKite, involving electronics, and an on board computer connected to the motor.” (GK)
In exploring alternatives to the vast amounts of pollution that bigger boats cause through fuel consumption, sails set a historic precedent – at least when the wind can be fully exploited. There are, however, a number of advantages kites have over sails. There are also considerable aerodynamic advantages to be gained from the kite being flown at height above the vessel, through the exploitation of drag.
Beyond the Sea brings together Yves Parlier’s company, Yves Parlier Océa, with the Marseille-headquartered shipping group CMA CGM, the Ensta Bretagne engineering college in Brest, Cousin Trestec a leader in rope manufacturing of Wervicq-Sud, and technical textiles leader Porcher Industries.
With a €15 million grant from regional authorities for development work, Beyond the Sea has now reached the stage of launching its first product, the LibertyKite, intended as an emergency system for small boats of up to 18 metres or so in length.
Daniel Costantini, sports and leisure, head of sales Porcher said, “The fabric we are currently producing for the LibertyKite is a lightweight, high tenacity polyester ripstop fabric that is specially woven and finished in-house by Porcher Industries. The LibertyKite is a very simple system which doesn’t need an auto-pilot or electronics, but it could be very useful if a mast should break or an engine fails. In fact, it could save your life, or that of your boat, allowing you to steer clear of any dangers and get back to shore. It’s very robust, but also extremely light and packs very small.”
Yves Parlier said, “We are already now trialling kites of fifty square metres on two 30-metre-long fishing boats off the coasts of Canada and France. The system employed is much more complicated than LibertyKite, involving electronics, and an on board computer connected to the motor.” (GK)
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