Rising Star of the week: Dacoma

A new concept is coming to life at EUROPORT 2021, the Rising Stars Pavilion powered by MARPRO. An area fully dedicated for promising maritime start-ups and next-gen innovators, where they can demonstrate how they contribute to a smarter, cleaner or/safer maritime future.

EUROPORT’s and MARPRO’s intention is to provide small start-ups a fair chance of showing their products and services to a large audience like EUROPORT is, for a budget friendly participation fee.

Company profile: Dacoma

Since the news aired officially, the call to maritime start-ups has been answered and a great deal of interest has been shown to participate.

Dacoma a Danish start-up has developed an active wave damping system for CTV’s, that outperforms all existing solutions. It’s extremely compact, damps wave motions more effectively and it also saves fuel. Make acquaintance of Dacoma in the following interview:

What is the idea behind Dacoma and its services?

Dacoma is a maritime tech startup based in the heart of a highly innovative maritime cluster in Svendborg, Denmark. We disrupt the status quo of ship-stabilizing by merging classical features of stabilizers with a greener future in mind with our novel, patented Airkeel technology. The Airkeel revolutionizes the way offshore and inshore installations are built, maintained, and repaired. Our all-season and all-speed-stabilizing systems make small and medium sized vessels (SMVs) more stable and safer, improve fuel efficiency by 5-10%, cargo capacity by 100%. They expand the operational range by 25% in terms of weather and sea conditions. Our customers are found within crew transfer to offshore wind, work-/crew boats e.g. in aquaculture, offshore constructions, patrol and pilot services, and within the super yachts and leisure boat segments.

How can Dacoma contribute to a smarter maritime future?

The unique properties of our stabilizer are based on Dacoma’s patented and prototype tested Airkeel technology. The Airkeel differentiates from the competition because it works at all speeds, and it is easy to integrate or refit with all types of vessels up to 40m (multihull, monohull). The added buoyancy increases payload and crane capacity and reduces overall hull resistance which saves fuel and decreases greenhouse gas emissions. We use new concepts of model based adaptive control and apply machine learning/ AI, including elements of deep learning, to optimize performance in terms of stabilization and damping of ship motions in all weather and under all operational conditions. We collect and analyze large amounts of sensor data for the benefit of our customers, helping them to further improve fleet operation efficiency, save fuel and monitor crew comfort and safety.

How can Dacoma contribute to a cleaner or safer maritime future?

Dacoma aims at contributing to the transition towards a more sustainable maritime sector by launching a cost-effective product with a fast ROI, hence making sustainable transition accessible and affordable. The buoyancy and dynamical lift generated by the Airkeel at high speeds save 5-10% fuel during vessel operation. When all offshore wind crew transfer vessels are equipped with our stabilizer, carbon emissions corresponding to 12500 fossil fuel driven cars are saved annually. On a global scale, wind farm operators lose € 300-450M per year in revenue because of turbine failures and delayed grid connection of new installations due to weather related inaccessibility. This loss corresponds to 2 months of total electricity consumption of Denmark. Increase of crew safety and comfort results in higher productivity and better working conditions for the technical crew.

Where is Dacoma in 5 years from now?

Our unique product will be positioned strongly in three growing market segments, (1) crew transfer vessels for offshore wind, (2) work-/crewboats for aquaculture, and (3) super yachts/leisure. In 5 years from now, we will manufacture 124 turn-key systems generating a turn-over of €20m. Due to a CAGR of 5-10% and due to the high customer operational benefit (ROI of 2 y), market penetration will be moderate to low (10% for CTV, <1% for others). Revenue from service, maintenance, and spare parts  and data products from our motion control sensors  will make our business robust. Our head count in Y5 will be 54, with 1/3 of the staff working in the R&D department working on product optimization, and software for control system/data analysis. We will be able to scale easily, our hardware is modular, and all components are available within our supply chain.

How is Dacoma organized, and who are the key people?

Our team and company have already attracted international attention, acknowledgment, and distinctions. We have assembled a strong, excellent, agile team that is passionate about creating next gen technology. Dacoma was founded by CEO Arnd Baurichter, the inventor of Airkeel. Arnd has two decades of experience within product development & launch, talent acquisition, and leadership from fast growing SME’s within other industries. Dacoma’s full time employees Morten Poulsen, Sofus Landt Dalby and Tine Zøfting-Larsen have key technical and sales/ business development expertise. Arnd is the main shareholder. Other shares are held by key employees, a private fund, and three board members with maritime and entrepreneurship experience. Dacoma was awarded “Maritime Stars” by Marlog in 2020 and was finalist of this year’s EC Blue Economy Award.