zulu associates

Zero Emission inland and short sea shipping

Belgium

About Us
CEO Antoon van Coillie
Entrepreneur, presently active as director of Blue Line Logistics, an inland shipping company, as well as director ZULU Associates and Anglo Belgian Shipping Company.
He holds an MBA degree of the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA and is an alumnus of the Belgian American Educational Foundation. He also holds a degree of Commercial Engineer (Solvay) of the Free University Brussels.
Before being active in the inland waterway and marine industries, he acquired a wide experience in the construction and the financial industry in different capacities.
He founded Blue Line Logistics in 2011 conceiving and developing the Pallet Shuttle Barge (aka ZULU) concept for moving palletized goods on inland waterways. Since then, he has initiated programs to develop autonomous vessels for inland and short sea freight.
He served as Reserve Officer in the Belgian Navy, minesweeping and fishery protection.

CTO Jan tellkamp
Jan is a Naval Architect with over 20 years of experience in the marine industry.
Graduating from Hamburg University, he spent more then a decade with Flensburg Shipyard. Being a part of the yard’s R&D team, he initiated and managed significant research projects on various topics affecting ship safety and ship performance. 
From there Jan joined Det Norske Veritas in Germany to support the German marine industry in their innovation activities towards using fuel cells and low emission fuels. The result of this was the first installation of a fuel cell on a passenger vessel on international voyage, and in the first recommended practices for bunkering of LNG. Following the merger of DNV and GL to DNV GL, Jan was given the responsibility to develop the new company’s international consultancy business along the LNG value chain.
In 2019 Jan founded his own company Juliet Tango Charlie, and in 2020 he joined ZULU Associates to guide oversee the groups integration of technologies into zero emission, autonomous ships and supporting infrastructure.

CRO Ann-Sofie Pauweleyn
Ann-Sofie Pauwelyn is regulatory and policy expert on inland waterways.

She started the Smart Shipping Project for inland waterways in Flanders in 2016 and has been leading the project for 7 years at the Flemish Inland Waterway Authority (De Vlaamse Waterweg nv). During her time at the waterway authority, Flanders became the first region in the world that allows autonomous ships to sail on inland waterways. She worked on the creation of new regulations, safety guidelines and test approval procedures for unmanned and autonomous shipping. These documents served as the basis for the work on autonomous shipping in the Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine (CCNR).  

In 2023 Ann-Sofie joined ZULU Associates to further work on policy and regulations for autonomous ships.  

Director James Fanshawe
James Fanshawe retired from the Royal Navy in 2005 after five commands and an appointment as the Director of Plans at the UK Permanent Joint Headquarters.
James works within a mixed commercial portfolio. He is a Director of the Anglo Belgian Shipping Company. He is a frequent conference chairman and speaker. He chairs the UK’s Maritime Autonomous Systems Regulatory Working Group, which has released Codes for the safe operation of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships. He is a member of the UK Maritime Autonomous Systems Steering Group and the MAS Council and is a moderator for the UNECE work on Autonomy on Inland Waterways.
He is the Chairman of Care for Veterans.

Problem we are solving
The marine industry, whether seagoing or inland, is fiercely traditional and faces huge challenges and opportunities regarding emissions, alternative propulsion, digital revolution, autonomous operation and its role in logistic chains.

Sustainable Impact on Blue Ecconomy
Zero emission using alternative propulsion, redesigned hulls and unmanned operations.
ZULU Associates is active as initiator, developer and operator of innovations in the marine component of logistic chains. Its goal is to enable zero emission operation of commercial vessels on inland waterways, short sea and coastal routes through autonomous operation and alternative propulsion.

ZULU Associates believes that these opportunities will result in disruptive innovations which will change radically the way a number of marine services will operate and this in a relative short period. By actively pursuing these innovations and creating the elements for their success, ZULU Associates is convinced important long-term value can be created for its stakeholders.

Financial Needs7.000.000