A smart solution for marinas

The bluepass start-up company is developing an innovative solution for managing marinas in real time, using tags to detect when boats pass, and also providing services for yachters.

Created in November 2016 within the ESTIA 2 business incubator, bluepass proposes to optimise the management of mooring spaces and anchoring points in marinas. The bluepass solution consists in an on-board ID tag which communicates the identification of each boat using radio frequency (RFID technology) to antennae installed at the marina entrance. The antennae calculate the boat’s movements and immediately transmit the presence or absence of boats in the marina to an IT server connected to a digital application. This solution optimises and boosts traffic between marinas and frees up numerous spaces on pontoons while providing services and security for yachters.  

To trial the solution, the bluepass team launched a full-scale test of the beta version in the marina in Capbreton, “the operation’s trial port” according to one of the partners in the company, Franck Bottin. Two long-range antennae were set up at the entrance to the marina to record the entry or exit of each boat fitted with a personalised RFID tag. The data is then used by an application developed by bluepass which includes an interface for marina managers and an interface for yachters.

Thanks to the application, yachters at sea and harbour master’s offices can receive an alert when the return time provided beforehand has been exceeded. Yachters will also be able to receive information on available spaces and associated services in a marina before they even arrive. For the harbour master’s office, bluepass is a tool for managing spaces and which allows the computerisation of certain operations and the optimisation of occupancy. 

In early March 2017, personnel at the Capbreton marina will be trained in how to use the bluepass system and approximately 40 tags will be proposed to yachters to test the solution on a large scale. The bluepass team will start marketing its solution this summer. “Around 50 marinas, sometimes represented by a regional union, are interested in the idea after we further to the contacts we established at the Paris Boat Show and the Le Grand Pavois boat show in La Rochelle” Franck Bottin explains.

Find out more:https://www.bluepass.eu