THE EU SELECTS THE GALICIAN COBS PROJECT OF SHERPA JOURNEYS TO PARTICIPATE IN THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE EUROPEAN MARITIME DAY

The EU has selected the Galician Container Over Board System (COBS) project, which is currently accelerating in the Sherpa do Mar's Sherpa Journeys program of accompaniment to the venture, to participate in the annual European Maritime Day conference. It will bring together experts from all over Europe tomorrow Thursday and Friday 21st to discuss maritime affairs and sustainable blue growth.

Specifically, the CEO of Container Over Board System (COBS), Carlos Freire from Vigo, will participate on Thursday 20th in "Lost containers at sea", one of the 20 virtual workshops that have been chosen for their high quality to be developed throughout the meeting, and which he organizes in collaboration with Riviera Maritime Media.

The workshop will focus on identifying the problems derived from the loss of containers at sea, both in terms of environmental impact and safety, as well as economic losses, offering solutions and defining a legal framework that allows solving this issue, of growing interest. in Europe.

It should be noted that each year more than 1,500 containers are lost at sea -this year the figure has exceeded 3,000-, which represents a serious danger to navigation, when the containers remain afloat and there is a risk of collision with other vessels, or for the sustainability of the marine environment, especially in the case of containers that carry polluting goods. It can also entail large economic losses for companies involved in transport, such as insurers, if it is lost at sea without the possibility of being located.

To resolve this issue, COBS is developing within Sherpa Journeys an alert, identification, tracking and flotation system for maritime containers that it will also present as part of the workshop. Its objective is to find public and / or private partners that allow it to design and develop a prototype in the short or medium term.

The COBS solution presents important advances for the transport of dangerous goods and high value-added containers. It incorporates an alert system that is activated in case of loss of the container and offers information of interest - container number, type of cargo, location ... - that allows decision-making in real time to anticipate the possible consequences and the location of the container using different technologies. In addition, it includes an inflatable device, similar to that of a lifeboat, which prevents the container from sinking into the sea and cannot be retrieved.

Participation in the European Maritime Day will allow COBS to open new business and collaboration opportunities, as well as publicize its solution throughout Europe.

This year, the conference will be held virtually from the EDM studio in Den Helder, the Netherlands, and will include interactive sessions and workshops via videoconferencing and streaming with the physical presence of some moderators and speakers.

About Sherpa do Mar

Sherpa do Mar is a project integrated in the INTERREG VA Spain-Portugal Cross-Border Cooperation Program (POCTEP) 2014-2020, co-financed 75% by ERDF funds, whose purpose is to launch a cross-border network of entrepreneurship in the marine-maritime  field and blue economy, through the Sherpa Journeys program, which favors job creation and increased business competitiveness through the promotion of technology-based companies.

The project is led by the University of Vigo, through the REDE research group, Campus do Mar and the R&D Office, and the Vigo Free Zone Consortium, the Galician Innovation Agency (GAIN) and the universities of Santiago and A Coruña participate in it as partners. On the part of Portugal, the partners ar the Asprela Technology Transfer Association (UPTEC), the Porto-Innovação University of the University of Porto (UPIN), the Interdisciplinary Center for Marine and Environmental Research (CIIMAR) and the Forum Oceano-Associação da Economia do Mar.