Meet Seaqualize: a fast growing company in motion compensators

Seaqualize designs and builds motion compensating lifting equipment for the offshore wind industry. Although it started out as a small and innovative start-up, today Seaqualize is a growing company making a name for itself in the maritime sector. This growth has been fuelled by its own ideas and ambitions and accelerated by PortXL and its industry network.

The importance of motion compensation

As the world moves away from fossil fuels towards renewable sources of energy, offshore wind farms are of critical importance. Therefore, more of them need to be built to achieve the energy transition.

We all know that ships move up and down in waves; it is this movement which makes the delicate process of installing an offshore wind turbine so challenging. That is why most offshore wind farms are built in the calm waters of the summer season.

Seaqualize has developed an inline active heave compensator that eliminates these movements. An installation operator can pick up and hold heavy loads steady (and put them down again) while the ship moves up and down, which makes building offshore wind farms all year round possible.

A sustainable innovation

Motion compensation is sustainable in numerous ways. It allows the offshore wind installation companies not only to get their job done faster and safer, but also all year round, in rougher sea conditions. This widening of the so-called ‘weather window’ is also a much more efficient way of deploying installation vessels. Minimising downtime saves time and fuel. Furthermore, motion compensation systems are built to be highly energy efficient.

The role of PortXL

Seaqualize joined the PortXL acceleration programme in 2021. PortXL connects ambitious maritime start-ups and scale-ups from all over the world with its more established partners. These are the big players in the maritime industry; companies such as Van Oord, Boskalis, Shell, Ampelmann, the Port of Rotterdam, and many more.

Start-ups and scale-ups can take part in PortXL’s acceleration programme. This is an intensive three-month programme that nurtures ideas, builds partnerships and enables collaboration. Even though it was only set up in 2015, PortXL has already supported more than 100 start-ups and-scale ups; laying the groundwork for more than 200 signed contracts with partners.

Seaqualize’s participation in PortXL’s acceleration programme put the company into contact with Ampelmann (which was important during the development phase) and Van Oord (for scaled up, live testing). Gjalt Lindeboom from Seaqualize says it best: “PortXL has a great network. In Rotterdam, but also outside of the region. When we needed to find our first launch customer, they helped us get connected.”