Specific Challenge:

Increasingly business and services are carried out within the marine space. Examples include: offshore terminals, aquaculture, renewable energy, marine biomass, blue tourism, surveying, environmental monitoring, accident response and clean up, and clearing of marine debris and other pollutants. Costs at sea are higher than for equivalent shore based operations and a significant proportion of them are associated with the support vessels which service these activities. Inappropriate vessels can increase costs because they may have limited operational weather windows, high overheads, slow speed, low efficiency and they may be generally ineffective for the task concerned. European yards and their suppliers (often SMEs), are world leaders in high value-added vessels and highly specialised ships. The challenge is to develop novel specialised vessel concepts which are economically viable and environmentally friendly and which will more effectively serve coastal and offshore activities, thereby supporting European growth and employment through development of a blue economy.

Scope:

Concepts should be developed to a pre-commercial stage technology readiness level (TRL) 5 and include: model testing, consideration of the most suitable construction and production principles for small series or one off vessels of this type, environmental impact assessment, cost estimation as well as both the marketability (technology push), and the cost effectiveness of the offshore operations concerned (demand pull). Work shall include development and testing of vessel concepts and its equipment so as to reduce costs and enable more efficient operations within either coastal or offshore environments as follows:

1 - Specialised vessels for coastal activities (2016)

The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU of up to EUR 7 million for "Specialised vessels for coastal activities" in 2016 and up to EUR 8 million for "Specialised vessels for offshore activities" in 2017 would allow this challenge to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude the submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.

Expected Impact:

To support significant economic growth and employment within the EU, the project will:

• Develop solutions to at least technology readiness level (TRL) 5 which will significantly impact on the development of a European marine and coastal economy.
• Aim to reduce costs by at least 20% compared to current practices taking the entire process including increased productivity and vessel cost into consideration.
• Increase the professional skills of workers and the capability of European industry and in particular SMEs within the marine and maritime sectors to develop and commercialise specialised vessels and related technology.