#Industry News
NATURAL FIBERS IN SHIPBUILDING: GOLD OF BENGAL
One beautiful adventure behind a new shipbuilding trend
Could natural fibers become a viable alternative to the commonly used synthetic composites in the shipbuilding industry? While there is no material that is promising to take the industry by storm, certain small enterprises are working diligently on a solution. Case in point: Gold of Bengal.
The Golden Fiber of Bangladesh
In 2009, Corentin de Catelperron started work for a shipbuilding company in Bangladesh.
While in Bangladesh, he observed that highly polluting synthetic composites were replacing wood. He also noticed that Bangladesh’s jute industry, an industry that employs 30 million people, was on the decline. A lack of modernization and diversification had left the “golden fiber” with an inability to compete with synthetic materials, but the disparition of the jute industry would have a massive impact on the country’s economy.
Corentin began to wonder if jute fiber could replace the increasingly common synthetic glassfiber in Bangladesh’s shipping industry.
In 2010, Corentin put his idea to the test and built a small fishing boat composed of 40% jute fiber: the Tara Tari. Taking it even further, he decided to sail from Bangladesh to France in his new creation. It took him six months, but the voyage was a success.
Several partners were convinced to join his initiative, including Plastimo, Oryx, Incidences, Multitrans, Therpho, Harken and more. Corentin even published a book about his exploit, The Adventure of TaraTari, which received several French literary prizes.
After his test run, Corentin returned to Bangladesh and began serious research. He joined forces with Ary Pauget, a textile engineer, and began working with a whole host of other specialized partners.
After a year of research, the team launched into the creation of a second prototype. Over a period of six months, the team worked with the Faridpur Jute Fiber Mill to produce 300 square meters of jute fabric. It took them six months to construct the Gold of Bengal, the very first 100% jute composite boat.
Gold of Bengal was launched in February 2013, and the company continues to explore new prototypes and products, including the Toul jute stool and jute surfboards.
Natural Fibers as an Alternative
Clearly, Gold of Bengal is still testing the waters, but, from bamboo to flax, natural fiber boats have been cropping up around the world. And the results are ever encouraging. Admittedly, our grim ecological future is spurring such out-of-the-box thinking, but projects like Gold of Bengal leave us hopeful for the future of shipbuilding.
