Shipping-related companies were well represented as the 13th Volvo Ocean Race set sail last weekend.
The fleet of seven identical, state-of-the-art carbon race yachts left from Alicante in Spain and will take in three Southern Ocean legs before concluding in The Hague next June.
One of the race teams is representing AkzoNobel, the owner of the International paint brand that is used in shipping.
Meanwhile, the Maritime Institute of the Netherlands (Marin) has used its research on future zero-emissions shipping to help the AkzoNobel team prepare for the race with calculations, model tests and measurements.
Also, the GAC shipping services group’s GAC Pindar subsidiary is responsible for logistics of the race.
Maritime communications giant Inmarsat is a race partner and is using the competition to demonstrate its technology in some of the world’s harshest environments.
This year’s edition features onboard reporters, whose job is to report from each yacht using drones, GoPro cameras and a host of other multimedia technology. The company’s contribution is to enable the footage to be beamed back to shore.
A late entry to the race is the Turn the Tide on Plastic team. Skipper Dee Caffari and her crew are using the race to fly the flag for the United Nations’ CleanSeas campaign.
