A tailor-made sailing freighter gives wings to the new European launcher

It still smells of paint. canopy, a brand new ship 121 meters long and 22 meters wide and soon to be equipped with sails by this summer, has been designed to transport an entire Ariane 6 launcher in a single trip. It is at the heart of the new strategy ofArianeGroup to drastically reduce the costs of its new launcher.

Still in the test campaign, with a stopover this Thursday at Grattequina terminal from Bordeaux, the first rotation is announced for the end of the year, in connection with the launch of the first Ariane 6 launcher.

Only 28 days from Bremen to Kourou

To save time, save fuel and increase efficiency, ArianeGroup has redesigned its entire supply chain around this new tool, designed and developed by the Alizés joint venture, under an operating contract with ArianeGroup. “With Ariane 6, we want to halve the cost of the Ariane 5 launcher,” explains Gilles Fonblanc, secretary general of ArianeGroup and president of the French subsidiary ArianeGroup SAS. For this, we have redesigned the industrial organization with the twelve associated countries up to all the logistics that accompany the transfer of sub-assemblies, and equipment manufactured in Europe and transported to French Guiana”,

Previously, various boats left from the ports closest to the group’s factories and transported their precious cargoes to French Guiana. canopy will centralize the different parts as they go along. “In Bremen, the upper stages of the launcher will be loaded, in Rotterdam, the half fairings that protect the satellites, in Le Havre, the main stage of the launcher, in Aquitaine, the four thrusters and also raw material from Toulouse, which will be transformed into Kourou”, explains Cédric Boulay, logistics and transport manager at ArianeGroup. The travel time from Bremen to Kourou will be 28 days, compared to almost double before.

After a gradual increase in power, ten journeys of this type will be carried out each year compared to four to five for Ariane 5. This leaves very little latency time for the maintenance of the cargo. “It’s a bit like a Formula 1 team, the idea is to be extremely dynamic, in particular thanks to a computer-assisted maintenance management tool, reacts Jean-Michel Berud, president of Jifmar Offshore Services (see box ). We have connected motors that make it possible to identify malfunctions before failures occur”. The boat, which can carry up to 1,500 tons, is also a compendium of technologies to monitor the stability of the precious cargo.

A fuel-efficient freighter

“The ship is not on heavy fuel oil but on diesel, which brings our CO2 balance down, points out Jean-Michel Berud. And so, we chose a hybrid propulsion: diesel and sail [issue des voiles d’un navire]. These wings are 37 meters high and each have 363 m2 of lift. Articulated, they can be oriented thanks to the technology of the Nantes company D-Ice Engineering.

“Routing software that studies pockets of wind at the meteorological level and at close range, makes it possible to benefit from the best lift at the best time, adds Jean-Michel Berud. We put on 30 to 35% savings on average, over a year. »

But beyond just cargo, the whole chain has been overhauled. “All Ariane 6 factories were designed with this mindset of improving logistics and transfers between sites,” insists Gilles Fonblanc. Improving the environmental footprint is not only transport by boat but everything that contributes to bringing the elements on the boat. »

Important hub in Bordeaux

Nearly 40% of the group’s workforce works in Gironde. The nozzles (propellers) are manufactured in Haillan and the skirts, huge metal parts in the shape of a cylinder which go to the lower part of the launcher, in Saint-Médard-en-Jalles. “Everything that is made in Bordeaux will be transported on this boat and will reach Guyana, welcomes Gilles Fonblanc. Bordeaux will take on another dimension and occupy a significant place in this Ariane 6 program”.

Eric Le Nechet, head of transport France and the logistics chain Kourou explains that a two-day stopover is planned in Bordeaux, when the rate will be at ten rotations, in a few years. The Grattequina terminal appears to be the most suitable for this stopover, but this still needs to be refined, in connection with the large maritime port of Bordeaux.

If the boat is unavailable, for example for maintenance reasons, less virtuous cargo ships can be mobilized as part of a watch in conjunction with ArianeGroup’s European partners. “The heightened competition for pitchers means that we are going on long cycles. There will be changes and we will have to continue transport by adapting it”, comments Gilles Fonblanc.

Since the reception of this new freighter on December 23, a first rotation has already taken place and will be a reference trip, without the sails. The next one will measure the gain obtained thanks to these “wings”. Until then, three-week sea trials are planned to qualify the sails, like each element before its integration.

The maiden voyage with all the parts, whose storage is optimized Tethris style in the huge hold, will take place by the end of 2023.

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