Video

The world's first 100% electric pilot boat

published on 15 April 2022 - 516 -

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Found on YouTube. Created by "MGH ENERGY". Originally published on 2022-04-13.

Built in 1980, the Maguelonne pilot boat, historical ship of the pilots of Sète, is getting a new look and swapping its thermal engine for a 100% electric propulsion. It is within the framework of the Green Pilot project, led by the MGH company, supported by its partners, the Occitanie Region and the Port of Sète-Frontignan, and with the participation of the pilot stations of Sète and Marseille-Fos, that the e-Maguelonne is born.

The maritime pilots lead the ships to the entrance of the ports. Night and day, they join the cargo ships that arrive several kilometers off the coast of the port, by means of fast boats called pilotines. While the ship is still underway, the pilot boat docks alongside the ship so that the pilot can climb aboard via a rope ladder to reach the ship's command post and drive it to its berth.

Launched in Sète in 2021 after sea trials in the harbor of Marseille, the e-Maguelonne pilot boat is now operational among the pilot boats of the commercial port of Sète-Frontignan and is the first 100% electric pilot boat in the world.

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