The National Centre for Space Studies (CNES) and the CMA CGM Group recently signed a unique partnership agreement. The five-year agreement was signed by CNES Chairman & CEO Philippe Baptiste and CMA CGM Group Chairman & CEO Rodolphe Saadé, at the Toulouse Space Centre on Thursday, June 10.
The agreement will call on the respective expertise of CNES and CMA CGM to identify, design and develop innovative solutions together to serve shipping, logistics and the space industry.
Under the agreement, CNES and CMA CGM’s experts will be focussing on a range of topics including:
- Smart ship routing to enhance safety at sea to aid crews and closely manage shipping’s environmental footprint. Data on currents, winds and waves will notably help to further optimise sea crossings and make them safer while developing effective management of future hybrid ship propulsion systems.
- The maritime energy transition, through sharing of experience with hydrogen and practices for producing, storing, distributing, filling and using this future ‘green’ fuel, exploiting economies of scale to make it a viable prospect.
- Upgrading of port activities and infrastructures, employing digital technologies to ease flows and paying special attention to environmental impacts.
- Contributions of the space sector to optimising logistics in order to develop a reliable and sustainable end-to-end service for global tracking of goods.
Within the partnership agreement, both the members of the French Maritime Cluster will also be working with start-ups and SMEs and relying on their entities charged with supporting business development and start-ups (ZEBOX, CMA CGM Venture, Connect by CNES) as well as CMA CGM’s R&D teams.
The focus areas were defined through Connect by CNES, the space agency’s initiative to put its expertise to work in helping firms develop innovative products and services leveraging space technologies and solutions. Analysis has concentrated on seeking ways of exploiting space data and services to enhance mobility management in the maritime sector.
This approach ties in with CMA CGM’s ambition to forge partnerships outside the shipping industry and offer innovative and disruptive solutions to build the shipping and logistics of the future for its customers and to preserve the environment.
During his visit, Rodolphe Saadé was also given a tour of the control room of Cospas-Sarsat, the global system that collects, locates and forwards distress signals from emergency beacons, and the facilities at the French Operations Centre for Science and Exploration (FOCSE). Satellite-based data service providers CLS and Kineis also presented their smart ship routing and space-based Internet of Things (IoT) solutions designed to meet the digital needs of shipowners.
