Page 38: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (November 2021)

WORKBOAT THE DATA BARGE

With an eye on both keeping the valuable ‘cargo’ suf? ciently cooled and being kind to the environment, the seawater cooling lines on the barge-based data center are large and unique – 18-inches in diameter – “which is done intentionally with some other features to minimize the environmental impact to the sea life in the area.” – Michael Complita, PE – VP Strategic Expansion, EBDG – 50/50 split at the forward end and aft end of the vessel for even need a ? nished berth to be installed and operational.

redundancy. So if one whole side of the server system goes “As long as we’ve got a good stable shoreline and the suf- down, they still have that backup power and storage for serv- ? cient water depth of about ? ve meters, we can just ? oat the ing their customers.” data center right in,” said Connaughton. “We take some tech- nology from the liqui? ed natural gas sector in terms of the pil- “Get Smart” ings that we use to moor the vessel; it’s a sliding piling system

With the ? rst barge-based data centered delivered in late and then some relatively straightforward shoreside electrical 2020 and now fully operational in the Port of Stockton, CA, and mechanical infrastructure.”

Connaughton envisions a vibrant and growing market glob- This could be particularly attractive to developing nations, ally, a solution that intersects with urban planners’ mission to where the need for computing power is high and, generally, build and maintain ‘smart’ transportation and cities. the port facilities are already some of the more developed in- “Ports are our friends, and we can bring new economic ac- dustrial areas in the country.

tivity and vitality to the ports,” he said. “We can (for example) be the anchor for the cable landing stations that typically come Next Steps through the ports, we intersect with smart maritime, smart With the NDT barge installed at the end of 2020 during the transportation, smart cities. You hear about ‘smartness,’ all the height of COVID, Connaughton said this start-up just started time. Well, to make smartness smart, you need data centers. really marketing itself in the spring of 2021, and the next steps

And the best place to get those data centers right in the heart include ? rst the standardization of the design so that it can be of our population centers is to partner with the ports and the replicated with increasing ease and ef? ciency globally in the other shore-side industrial players.” years to come.

In particular, Connaughton sees smaller, secondary ports as “We are in design work with Elliot Bay right now to take all prime partners, as many of these ports have lost business to the of this custom work and create a classic modular construction larger ports as containerships and containerization continues to and deployment capability,” said Connaughton, noting that grow. But critically, the NDT data barge solution is not targeted talks are ongoing with port globally – from Ireland to Austra- solely to developed countries, as the barge … which is designed lia, France to Africa – and in the coming 24 to 36 months he to either sit in the water or land-side next to the water … doesn’t hopes to get 10 or more built.

38 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • November 2021

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