AERONAV Rapid, energy-efficient crew boat

The AERONAV project involves developing a new generation, rapid passenger transport vessel with significantly low fuel consumption. The vessel in question is a catamaran which rides both on water and on air thanks to the pod which links the hulls and acts as a wing, thus generating aerodynamic lift as speed increases. This lift makes the vessel lighter and reduces resistance to forward movement. The catamaran can, as a result, attain extremely high speeds while maintaining extra low fuel consumption per passenger, even on small-scale boats. Another dimension to the project is the development of a navigation aid and training in piloting ultra high-speed vessels.

The company - with the support of Atlanpole, a regional Science and Technology Park linked to Pole Mer Bretagne Atlantique - undertook sea trials with an instrumented prototype in May 2015 to validate the design, numerical tools and anticipated performance.

The project now plans to develop a commercially viable demonstrator - a 25-passenger crew boat destined for the oil and gas sector - to display the applicability of this new generation of craft.