Events
Oceanco Joins the Qatar Boat Show
Events
Join us at FLIBS 2024 for Oceanco’s latest!
News
Oceanco Welcomes 70m SKAT For an Extensive Refit 
View all news
 

What if we preserve tomorrow?

By starting today.

At Oceanco, we make it our business to accelerate sustainable innovation and establish responsible yachting. Therefore, we have formulated a dedicated action plan for corporate sustainability that encompasses sustainable development from social, economic and environmental perspectives.

A dedicated sustainability action plan

This plan is based on our sustainability framework set out by the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in combination with Oceanco’s sustainability themes.

As the foundation of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the SDGs are considered the gold standard for achieving a better and more sustainable future for all. From the full list of 17 SDGs, we selected the six most pertinent goals where we felt our actions could make the greatest impact. These include:

  • SDG7 Affordable and clean energy
  • SDG8 Decent work and economic growth
  • SDG12 Responsible consumption and production
  • SDG13 Climate action
  • SDG14 Life below water
  • SDG17 Partnerships for the goals

OUR ‘FIVE P’S’

By interpreting these goals through the lens of yacht building, we identified the following key sustainability themes – our ‘Five P’s’ – to become the anchors for Oceanco’s sustainability action plan:

 

  1. Product
    By pushing boundaries in green technologies and efficiency, we want each newly built Oceanco yacht to be capable of having zero environmental impact for a longer period of time by 2030.

 

2. Premises
We also have bold ambitions to more than halve our own impact on the environment compared to the benchmark by 2030, aiming for 100% of Oceanco’s electricity usage to be supplied by renewable energy sources.

3. Process
And by the end of the decade, we intend to be 100% waste free or circular across the entire supply chain, through the conscious selection or creation of new materials to be used onboard.

 

4. People
Our brand is only as strong as our people. We are committed to providing Oceanco’s employees and partners with a supportive and encouraging environment in which to flourish; where intrapreneurship thrives through the sharing of ideas so we can achieve more together.

 

5. Population
And alongside championing various global initiatives that promote environmental stewardship, education and conservation, we want to foster a culture of collaborative innovation and learning that allows us to build a better future for generations to come.

MAKING OUR PREMISES MORE SUSTAINABLE

To build next-generation yachts, we need state-of-the-art facilities in line with our progressive approach to innovation and sustainability. This is why Oceanco continues to invest in impactful green technologies at our facilities while also increasing capabilities to build yachts up to 150m in length. The major investment in our Alblasserdam premises is an example that focused on installing renewable energy systems to reduce power dependence on fossil fuels. Furthermore, our new ground source heat pump system – which reaches 200m below the surface – cuts gas consumption in half, while our rooftop solar panels generate 200,000kWh per year. At the same time, we are creating a yacht hub and brain park at our construction and refit facilities, which is set to become a key platform for efficiency and innovation.

A MEASURED APPROACH

Following a request from a client, Oceanco is developing a holistic tool to measure the carbon footprint of an entire yacht project, incorporating energy required for construction, the materials used and life cycle assessment. The tool shows how certain design and materials choices convey a positive impact on the overall carbon footprint of a yacht, from initial selection and installation all the way through the lifetime usage.

The process breaks the yacht down to component level, to calculate CO2 equivalent based on component weight as well as supplier and manufacturing process, while also using the data from Oceanco’s electricity and gas consumption alongside waste. Beyond the project for which this was developed, it will benefit future Oceanco clients, too.

The exercise has provided valuable insights for us in terms of where particular improvement points lie in the building and subsequent operation of yachts. It also allows us to make conscious design decisions at an early phase. Armed with this information, we can work with our Co-maker partners and clients to find solutions that will bring down the overall carbon footprint of a yacht.

EXPLORING ALTERNATIVE FUELS

Oceanco is renowned for asking bold questions to find new answers–new solutions–to create next-generation yachts. Working with like-minded partners, many of our past projects have offered a way to advance sustainability and efficiency in yachting. These have included Black Pearl, our LIFE Design concept formulated with Lateral Naval Architects and first put to use on Bravo Eugenia, and now Oceanco NXT.

Moving away from a conventional fossil fuel dependence towards alternative fuels and power sources is vital for a more sustainable future. Oceanco continues to work with various technical partners to find effective and reliable alternative fuel solutions to improve the sustainability of the yachting industry, including the inescapable topic of fuel cell technology. There are various alternative fuels which we are examining and studying; among others, these include ammonia, wind assist, compressed hydrogen, liquefied hydrogen and methanol.

Because all alternative fuels are less energy dense than current fossil fuels, more intelligent use of technical space is going to be necessary. Therefore the main way to reduce the volume of space attributed to alternative fuel storage will be to reduce how much fuel is needed in the first place. Which logically means we need to keep pushing forward with energy reduction. Our quest for ever-increasing efficiency has begun.