FPT Industrial partners with One Ocean Foundation for the Blue Forest Project
FPT Industrial, an Iveco Group brand, will participate in World Oceans Day with One Ocean Foundation.
www.fptindustrial.com
The brand’s long list of sustainability projects – which have always been an integral part of Iveco Group’s development strategy – is indeed growing with the addition of Blue Forest, a project of international scope dedicated to protecting and restoring marine forests of various types, starting with the waters of the Mediterranean Sea.
The Blue Forest project focuses in particular on the Mediterranean, an extremely delicate basin with unique ecological characteristics which is the sole growth area for a particular endemic marine plant: Posidonia oceanica, which forms extensive underwater forests that play a fundamentally important role for the marine ecosystem, comparable to that of plants on dry land.
The Posidonia oceanica meadows dissipate the energy of the waves, preventing erosion of sandy coastline; they stabilize the sea floor; provide habitats and breeding areas for a huge variety of organisms – over 350 species; and, above all, play a significant role in mitigating climate change through their carbon sequestration capacity. It is indeed estimated that one square meter of these meadows can absorb 130 kg of CO2 in a year, around fifteen times more than the Amazon rain forest: small areas of sea can therefore make a big difference. This leads to its name of “the lungs of the Mediterranean", with the ability to emit up to 20 liters of oxygen per square meter of meadow per day, thus becoming the most important oxygen source supplied by coastal waters. At the same time, the Posidonia oceanica ecosystem is a fragile one, with recovery times of centuries, as the plant has a very slow growth rate of just 1-2 cm per year.
Since the 1950s, the Posidonia oceanica meadows have suffered considerable regression, in some cases as much as 90% from their original extent, primarily due to pollution of the waters, indiscriminate anchoring, and bottom trawling. This has given rise to the goal of One Ocean Foundation: to identify sections of degraded sea floor in order to implement restoration projects with sowing of new plants, through the creation of an international network of universities, NGOs, institutions and authorities to promote the implementation of protection and reforestation projects at a global level, alongside education activities and research programs.
FPT Industrial, which has always been committed to reducing the environmental impact of commercial and pleasure vessels, has decided to make a key contribution to this challenge, by providing use of a boat powered by two N60 motors to the One Ocean Foundation for its reforestation activities. A symbol of the reliability and durability of NEF engines for marine applications, built in the Turin Industrial & Marine plant with a tailor-made approach to satisfy every customer requirement, the N60 offers high power output, with maximum torque available at low engine speeds, and low fuel consumption and maintenance costs, all characteristics with important consequences for the foundation’s delicate operations. FPT Industrial’s engines for marine applications also offer support to the company’s customers thanks to their connected solutions, which optimize engine uptime through remote monitoring and real-time notifications, key in both commercial and recreational fields.
Egle Panzella, Brand Equity and Corporate Social Responsibility Manager for FPT Industrial, commented: “We are proud to be supporting the mission of One Ocean Foundation, an association we immediately felt an affinity for. Helping safeguard ecosystems is a concrete action to lend substance to FPT Industrial and Iveco Group’s commitment to sustainability matters. To do so, we have provided the foundation with a boat powered by two NEF series engines, the perfect representation of the reliability of the Brand’s marine engines, with which to carry out its operations.”
N60 for One Ocean Foundation – Technical Specifications
- Cylinder layout: 6L
- Turbocharger: TCA
- Displacement [liters]: 5.90
- Injection system: CR
- Maximum power [hp @ rpm]: 400 @ 3000
- Maximum Torque [Nm @ rpm]: 1045 @ 1800
- Certification: IMO Marpol Tier 2
- Dry weight [kg]: 595
Full specifications are available on the FPT Industrial website.
www.fptindustrial.com
