Port accessThe Distribution Committee of the Interport Compensation Fund has approved the financing of seven projects supported by Bilbao PortLab, the innovation hub of the Port of Bilbao. The grants are part of the Ports 4.0 Funds of the Spanish State Ports Authority in the pre-commercial category.
The meeting of Port Authority Presidents agreed to fund a total of 30 projects, with Bilbao being the port with the highest number of initiatives awarded a grant.
The innovation projects approved and linked to the port of Bilbao feature new initiatives ranging from traceability and safety in the handling of containers to energy saving, flexibility and coordination in the loading of industrial projects, sustainable vessels, tools to improve operational safety and the early detection of pollution.
With the projects requiring a total investment of 4.34 million euros, the amount of grant funds secured exceeds 2.24 million euros. The projects will start by the end of the year and will run for between 18 and 36 months.
Whilst Bilbao PortLab looks for and identifies projects of interest potentially applicable in the port, at the same time, the companies of the port community come up with innovative ideas that require funding. The innovation hub looks for the most suitable companies or organisations to act in a facilitating role and provides support in matching up the innovation solution with the port community company. The process culminates in the presentation of a project and the follow-up assessment.
The seven projects selected in this latest edition of the Ports 4.0 call for proposals are:
- WATCHPORTS, proposed by the company NUAVIS with support from Toro y Betolaza. This project, a further development of an idea that was originally funded under the first Ports 4.0 call for proposals, is an automated cloud-based platform for continuous monitoring of the goods handling process in a port environment and for real-time gathering of all the information associated with the process, from the location of all the goods to any incidents that may have occurred, using advanced artificial vision and machine learning technologies.
- SUPRASHORE-DEMO, proposed by the company SUPRASYS with support from the Port Authority of Bilbao, is also a further development of an idea funded under the first Ports 4.0 call for proposals. The innovation consists of an ultra-compact ship-to-port power connection, with a view to optimising power distribution costs and the repowering of the power supply systems.
- NETERH PRO, proposed by Erhardt Projects with support from GE Renewable Energy, is a platform that offers logistics solutions and services for industrial project cargo which enable end-to-end cargo logistics management for the different players involved in the logistics chain.
- FOIL2SEA, proposed by Foilchemy with support from the Pilotage Association of the Port of Bilbao and the Maritime Safety and Rescue Agency, is a small hydrogen-powered vessel equipped with hydro-wing technology designed to perform a variety of missions on a common basis, where the cabin can be changed depending on the mission in question.
- PRESTAMAR, proposed by Sibport21 and Petronor with support from the Port Authority of Bilbao, is a non-intrusive tool to assist in decision-making to manage port loading and unloading operations, providing objective criteria and predictions linked to the specific conditions of the vessel at berth.
- CLEVERWIND, proposed by Cleverwind with support from the Port Authority of Bilbao, involves the design and development of a 10-12 metre high, 15 kW vertical-axis folding wind turbine which, when the sensor connected to the hoisting system detects wind, unfolds and hoists both the tower and the blades into place to generate electricity.
- DEVELOPMENT OF AN IN SITU CONTAMINATION DETECTION SYSTEM, proposed by SDLE Star Defence Logistics & Engineering with support from the Port Authority of Bilbao. Portable equipment for real time on-site detection of pollutants in port waters.
