Becoming a company with a mission in July 2020, MerConcept is organized into three departments: ocean racing project management – today the Ultim SVR Lazartigue, the Imoca Macif Santé Prévoyance and the Ocean Fifty UpWind by MerConcept -, maritime mobility, which focuses on decarbonization projects (foiling catamaran, cargo sailboat Vela…), and construction, which builds race boats complex composite boats and parts for several classes and series, without necessarily managing the project afterwards. As with Maxime Sorel’s Imoca V and B-Monbana-Mayenne and Élodie Bonafous’ Horizon 29, due in early 2025.
In keeping with the company values espoused by founder François Gabart, the construction department has systematized research and development to devise and implement more environmentally-friendly solutions. “In the specifications for all our projects, we integrate the environmental dimension in addition to existing criteria, and we try to put the right materials in the right places,” sums up Fanny Ioos, materials engineer at MerConcept since the end of 2021.
The teams have begun to work on this subject with small boats, “for example, by building an Optimist prototype from flax fiber, PET core and partially biosourced resin”. And, in the case of ocean racing boats, using biosourced materials for non-structural parts. “The idea now is to go further, in particular by partially modifying mold tooling materials, so that they are no longer 100% carbon fiber. It’s a fascinating subject, and one on which we’re working with organizations such as Ifremer and NCD to make progress”, adds Fanny Ioos.
The company is also working extensively on carbon recycling with recycling companies. The first application was on Macif Santé Prévoyance with ballast dorades made of 100% recycled carbon fiber supplied by Extracthive, a French company founded in 2015. “No particular concerns were reported on these parts,” comments the engineer, a finding that is prompting the company to go further: “We’re moving forward step by step to prove the validity of the concept, and we’re trying more and more to move towards circularity: we sort our offcuts, and send them to our partners who supply us with material again,” explains Fanny Ioos.
These eco-design approaches are validated each time by a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), which quantifies and analyzes in detail the overall environmental impact of a project over its entire lifespan – from the extraction of raw materials to end-of-life. Once again, the Concarneau offices are fully committed to this task, with Youn Aubry, an engineer, working full-time on the project. “Often, LCA is expressed in terms of kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent. This indicator alone gives a rather closed and reductive vision of the overall impact of a part,” he explains. “We prefer to use the PEF (Product Environmental Footprint) methodology, adopted by the European Union, which takes into account 16 indicators and provides a single score, thus facilitating and improving eco-design choices for new parts.”
To carry out this work, MerConcept relies on a tool called S3 (Sustainable Sailing Solution), developed within the GIE Kaïros MerConcept, a joint structure with Kaïros which is dedicated to responding to eco-design requests.
For MerConcept, it’s a question of being proactive on these issues, which no longer tolerate a wait-and-see attitude, according to Fanny Ioos: “We believe we have a role to play in improving the sector’s impact. Even if it’s still in the beginning for some projects, our approach is positive, we’re getting ahead of ourselves for the future, because all the players – boat classes, skippers, sponsors, public opinion – are going to push us to act.”
Photo: Qaptur
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