MARCO-TH COMPANY
Innovation and collaboration in developing more efficient vessels regarding energy and operations
Marco-TH Company
TH Company, via their brand Marco, is world leader in deck and fishing equipment plus hydraulic systems for the fishing industry. Over 70% of the world tuna fleet uses Marco technology. The company has stood out throughout its history of more than 60 years for its firm commitment to innovation and collaboration with the fishing industry. It has been critical in the evolution of purse seiners worldwide. An even more critical collaboration today in order to develop ever more efficient equipment and vessels both operationally and energy-wise, advances which, in combination with the different initiatives and policies adopted by the industry, are enabling progression towards an ever more social, environmental and economically sustainable fishing activity.
In recent years, technology for the construction and assembly of vessels has been evolving non-stop, so when the purse seiners go fishing, they’re even more energy efficient. Gonzalo Prat, Managing Director of Marco-TH Company, highlighted that: “At Marco we provide our grain of sand in this evolution by committing to the development of more efficient hydraulic systems and also the implementation of deck equipment and hydraulic system monitoring systems, thereby not only enabling a more efficient operation but also obtaining critical information to develop models requiring lower energy consumption to function”.
In fact, the company is focused on the implementation of variable flow systems with maximum efficiency, likewise their monitoring system in new vessel constructions being carried out in different parts of the world where they’re present. Prat pointed out: “We’re looking to continue working with the fishing industry in their progress towards developing an ever more social, environmental and economically sustainable fishing activity.”
Hydramarc hydraulic system
An example of this is the new hydraulic system with maximum efficiency they’re developing called Hydramarc and which they’re starting to implement. The system has Load Sensing (LS) variable flow type pumps, which unlike fixed flow systems that drive a constant continuous flow, this system limits flow generation and pressure to that required to operate the machinery need for the manoeuvre at that time.
It also includes a constant power regulation device enabling greater system performance with the lowest installed power thus optimising energy consumption. This is complemented with the monitoring system Marbox, which enables real time visualisation and recording of the state and working parameters of the hydraulic system and deck equipment. Among other information, the system can monitor: work flows and hydraulic pressures, temperature and oil quality, main winch speeds and state of filters; besides recording the working hours of the equipment, manoeuvre times, number of casts made, etc.
Hydramarc hydraulic system
Sistema Hydramarc
It will monitor flow rates and hydraulic working pressures, oil temperature and quality, main winch speeds or the state of filters, as well as the record of equipment working hours, maneuvering times, number of sets made…
Information can be visualised locally and remotely; and will be critical in maximising operation efficiency as well as programming predictive maintenance tasks and alarms. The MARCO-TH Company Managing Director explained that: “Thanks to this information we’ll be able to boost the benefits of the variable flow system as well as optimising the vessel catch levels, thus facilitating the crew’s work and reducing energy consumption”.
More intelligent and compact equipment
Another of this company’s areas of improvement is related to the fishing system operation, as the implementation of automatic mechanisms in its functioning will enable equipment to be smarter, so they can operate with greater co-ordination during the manoeuvre and in the face of unexpected events, thereby reducing consumption even more and consequently being more energy efficient. Furthermore, thanks to the processing of data obtained through the monitoring systems, fishing and deck equipment design can become more advanced. Prat concluded that: “We’re convinced that thanks to processing the data obtained via the monitoring systems, we’ll be advancing towards more compact fishing and deck equipment design, requiring lower consumption, and as such reduce the carbon footprint in the process of manufacturing the same.”