On November 1, 2021 an EU-funded project for sustainable energy production in Africa starts. 29 partners from 16 countries, five years of project time - and Ankron right in the middle!
We don't necessarily have energy generation as a core competence in our pitch so far. But we're also not responsible for power generation at all. Our role at REFFECT AFRICA will be to set up and commission water labs to analyze water quality on site (in Morocco, Ghana and South Africa), powered by the energy generated. We'll mainly take care of the regulatory requirements, the essential equipment and necessary standard procedures - and we can bring all our knowledge and experience from our work on board ships to bear in an excellent way.
WHY does a company from the maritime industry get an Africa project on land?
That's a fair question.
Our project area in Africa is water analysis. We undoubtedly know a lot about that. But that only partly explains why no "normal" water laboratory was chosen for this task.
Let's take a closer look at the circumstances under which water quality must be tested in Africa.
First there is often an unclear regulatory situation. Then environmental conditions are not always conducive to high quality laboratory work in terms of power supply, space, lighting conditions, heat, dirt and dust, or appropriate sampling sites. In addition, the demands on laboratory equipment are high: easy-to-use, reliable, robust and mobile analytical instruments are needed.
But this is exactly how we work on ships. We do not know what we will find, we have to be technically flexible to adapt to the conditions and still achieve reliable and correct test results under the given circumstances. The working conditions on a ship are not much different from the requirements in the test laboratories we will set up at REFFECT AFRICA together with our partner LetzTest.
A stationary laboratory that carries out standard procedures with complex process technology quickly reaches its limits here.
That is why we, as a maritime company, are part of this Africa project.
We are very much looking forward to the tasks ahead, to the challenges the project will bring, and to working with all the other partners. And, of course, we are also a little proud to be able to make our contribution to achieving the project goals that are relevant on many levels for the development of an entire continent and its population.