Last month I told you about how the daughter of the folks at Tim Haynes Limited was encouraging the company to consider its carbon footprint in general practice as well as through the products it uses. Now comes word of green thinking from this side of the pond.
Knight & Carver has a new department called Eco Solutions to make both its own operations as well as the yachts it repairs and refits as environmentally responsible as possible. Though it services mostly megayachts from 120 feet on up, the yard will make the department’s expertise available to any yacht that pulls in.
This is the first such department I’m aware of at any repair yard worldwide; even if I eventually stand corrected, it’s indisputably a step in the right direction. While every megayacht is fitted with systems to treat waste water, for example, some of that water that ends up back in the ocean just isn’t as “clean” as it could be, from a chemical standpoint and a parts-per-million (ppm) standpoint. Now there are systems employing ultraviolet light that reportedly do a better job on both those fronts. Given this and other advances in technology that now permit cleaner operation, along with the availability of cleaning products that don’t adversely affect marine life, there’s no excuse not to embrace them.
Eco Solutions will do just that, offering nontoxic bottom paints (TBT-free ones come to mind) and cleaning products, eco-friendly systems for black- and grey-water management, and lower-emission machinery. Heading up operations is Russ Grandinetti, who joined the San Diego-based yard in January and has a long history in the marine industry. For the past 15 years he’s captained megayachts like Domani, Mirage, and Barbarina and has an additional decade’s worth of experience aboard both yachts and commercial vessels. As he says, “A wave of awareness continues to sweep the country and the world about the importance of caring for our environment. We intend to be a leader in that effort within our industry.”
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