A project of the magnitude of HERCULES-B is only possible through the active involvement of all actors in the area of marine engines: manufacturers, suppliers, research organisations, end-users.
- The industrial Partners seek industrial development as a means to competitiveness and growth, in their respective sectors of economic activity.
- The research organisations push the frontiers of basic RTD to complement industrial development.
- The end-users require low operating costs, high availability of marine powerplants, with the quality of operation becoming a competitiveness issue and the compliance to emissions legislation a forcing term.
The participants in each Workpackage were assembled based on excellence in:
- Product or service development (industrial partners)
- Research (Institutes and Universities)
- Operation (end-users & Classification Societies as EXAG members)
In the HERCULES-B Project there are 38 participating organisations (32 partners and 6 EXAG) from 13 countries, of which 11 are EU Member Countries (Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, United Kingdom, Czech Republic), and 2 are Associated to FP7 Countries (Switzerland, Norway). There are 19 (50%) Industrial participants, 10 (26%) Universities, 4 (10%) Research organisations, 2 (5%) User / Operator EXAG companies, 3 (8%) Classification Societies (EXAG).
The two major partner groups, MAN Diesel and Wartsila, cover together about 90% of the world’s marine engine market (medium- and low-speed engines). All the other industrial partners are top companies in the global market with 30% of these industrial partners being the world’s leader in their field. The 14 European University Laboratories and Research Institutes are renowned worldwide for research excellence in their field.
The User/Operator Shipping Companies in the EXAG group include the very large worldwide operators Hapag Lloyd AG and A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S. The above EXAG members command more than 500 ships. The Classification Societies in the EXAG group include the leaders in their field Det Norske Veritas (DNV), Germanischer Lloyd (GL) and Lloyds Register (LR).
The tie-up of these European world-leading Organisations and the integration of research capacities, in a project of such magnitude and long term scope, aiming at specific objectives with strategic impact of global significance, has been inconceivable in the past. |