Antoon van Coillie

Antoon is a director of Zulu Associates, an Anglo Belgian shipping company. Before joining the inland waterway and marine industries, he acquired a wide experience in different capacities within the construction and financial industries. He founded Blue Line Logistics in 2011, conceiving and developing the Pallet Shuttle Barge (aka ZULU) concept for moving palletized goods on inland waterways. In 2016, motivated by the climate crisis, he initiated the development of zero-emission dry bulk and container vessels for inland and short-sea freight using autonomous operation as an economic enabler of alternative propulsion systems. In 2020 he sold his stake in Blue Line Logistics to concentrate exclusively on zero-emission innovations. Zulu Associates is also a partner in the AUTOSHIP consortium, which will operate a demonstrator of autonomous operation on inland waterways in 2022. It also provides the platform for the autonomous mooring of inland barges using magnetic pads in the Hull2Hull consortium.

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Presentation

Using autonomy to achieve competitive zero emission shipping.

The development of Maritime Autonomous Systems, and the integration of a range of technology systems and new energy sources, including batteries and green hydrogen, provide real opportunities to achieve zero emission shipping. This will be particularly evident on both short sea routes and on inland waterways. This presentation will explore how this can be achieved and what the overall impact will be on future maritime operations. It will specifically examine the resultant business cases and demonstrate how this will make them both cost effective and able to meet customer demands. It will also touch on what ports and harbours need to consider preparing for the entry into service of these vessels.