What is the BlueInvest Project Pipeline?
See our showcase of innovative projects and entrepreneurs who are shaping the Blue Economy.
Projects consist of innovative, scalable and sustainable business ventures from traditional and emerging sectors of the maritime economy.
The graphs below provide an overview of the country distribution, sector, and TRL of projects currently listed in the BlueInvest Project Pipeline.
Selection Criteria:
Your company is EU-based or from an eligible sea basin region (Georgia, Turkey, Ukraine, Moldova, Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, Israel, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Lebanon, Syria, Libya, Mauritania, United Kingdom, or Norway)
Your project TRL is 4 or higher
Your project sector is in one of the 10 blue economy sectors identified for this initiative
Your solution has a clear sustainable impact on the blue economy
Your project is looking for investment
Project Country
Country in which the project is being developed and / or implemented.
Project Sector
Main blue economy sector the project relates to.
Project TRL
Current technology readiness level of the project.
Marine Hound Ltd.
Ing. Nicholas Borg Calleja - Co-founder and CEO - Entrepreneurial engineer with 10+ years experience in agile product development, team management, business strategy, funding and networking.
Dr. Ismo Kauppinen - Co-founder and CTO - Gas sensing expert. 20+ years experience in building gas analyzers. Business development, strategy and management, and entrepreneurship.
Advisors:
Capt. Reuben Lanfranco - Expert in maritime industry and International Maritime Organization. Senior trainer at DNV. Expert ship surveyor.
Firstbridge Ltd. - Financial and Corporate Advisors
In January 2020 the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has taken bold action to clean up shipping emissions by reducing the sulphur content in ships' fuel oil. The IMO2020 obliges all ships to use fuel having 0.50% sulphur content, reduced from 3.50%. Sulphur oxide causes severe air pollution resulting in premature deaths, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, environmental and climate impact.
The impact is a 77% drop in overall sulphur oxide emissions from ships (annual reduction of approx 8.5 million metric tonnes). Benefits will be felt globally, especially in health (570,000 deaths avoided across 5 years), climate and environment. Prevention of acid rain means less harm to crops, forests and aquatic species, and tackling ocean acidification.
Unfortunately due to the premium price paid on low sulphur fuel, some ships are still using cheaper high sulphur illegal fuel. This reality is compromising the impact of the IMO2020.
Monitoring and enforcement of the new limit falls to Governments and national authorities. However, due to limited resources, complex shipping itineraries and unavailability of reliable remote sensing technologies, monitoring is weak. This causes a weak deterrent to ships using illegal fuel.
Our remote sensing solution makes monitoring efficient and effective, by autonomously monitoring emissions of all ships and triggering officers for inspections when system detects high sulphur content.
"Gas analyzer patent is owned by supplier, however Marine Hound owns global exclusivity on the commercial rights of the unique sensor
Technology uniqueness:
1) Core sensor: Patented and unique gas analyzer, of which Marine Hound has exclusive commercial rights, is the only gas analyzer on the market that offers: small-size and low-power operation (can work off-grid even installed in solar-powered smart buoys - UNIQUE); Robustness to harsh marine conditions including wave acceleration (UNIQUE); High sensitivity (parts per billion) and high selectivity of gases; Longer calibration cycles (1 or 2 year sensor calibration vs 6 month calibration by competition. Our technology reduces OPEX and maintenance costs); Fast response (30 seconds). These unique features gives us the benefit of versatility and flexibility in the installation of the gas analyzer (strategic sensing locations: in ground in ports; on breakwaters; and on smart buoys in shipping and fairway lanes).
2) Versatile and scalable pollution monitoring infrastructure: We combine both stationary continuous emission monitoring gas analyzers in strategic vantage points (in-ground and smart buoy remote sensing) and mobile gas sampling (autonomous drones) to ensure effective and efficient pollution monitoring of all vessels in designated Emission Control Areas.
3) Same monitoring infrastructure can be upgraded to perform other services such as wave monitoring, water quality monitoring, security and critical infrastructure monitoring.
4) User Experience - We give Port State Control Officers a very easy-to-use but highly effective monitoring and reporting tool that facilitates their mandatory and complex jobs. Our system generates valid evidence to trigger manual fuel inspections on highly-likely polluting ships.
Business model uniqueness:
1) We offer the pollution monitoring infrastructure at zero CAPEX to the customer. An investment bank or infrastructure partner finances the equipment and deployment costs. Marine Hound's revenue model is a Measurement as a Service fee (depends on number of port calls and Gross Tonnage of sampled vessel). Revenue is shared among three stakeholders in the value chain: (i) Marine Hound (largest share); (ii) Investment bank or infrastructure partner (lease of equipment) and (iii) Broker partner that successfully introduces us to the customer and helps us secure the contract. This model is attractive because customer does not need to plan a purchase budget to buy the equipment, and does not need to acquire the skill sets to maintain the system since partners of Marine Hound will perform those tasks. In return, the customer gets all the required information to be efficient, effective and compliant to international MARPOL conventions and local laws."