GE’s Marine Solutions reports that the world’s first Liquid Propane Gas (LPG)-fueled ferry design to use GE’s COmbined Gas turbine Electric and Steam (COGES) system has successfully completed Hazard Identification (HAZID) meetings. The consortium of Youngsung Global, DINTEC, Korea LPG Industry Association, GE’s Marine Solutions and Far East Ship Design & Engineering Co. (FESDEC) signed a multilateral memorandum of understanding in November 2016 to cooperate on this unique ferry design.

Dry bulk vessel owner and operator Oldendorff Carriers said it has appointed emissions verification company Verifavia to verify its fleet of vessels in line with the European Union’s new environmental Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (EU MRV) regulation. Verifavia will ensure that all Oldendorff vessels are in compliance with the new requirements mandated by the EU MRV regulation coming into force in August 2017. As a first step towardscutting greenhouse gas emissions from maritime transport…

Rolls-Royce broadened its capability in ship design with the establishment of a new team dedicated to the development of naval ship designs. Rolls-Royce broadened its capability in ship design with the establishment of a new team dedicated to the development of naval ship designs. The new team will aim to develop vessels for navies, coast guards and other maritime agencies, including variants of the  Environship merchant ship concept, will leverage technologies from commercial Rolls-Royce ship designs and products, adapted and integrated for the specific requirements of naval operations.

– In a move to solidify its course as a complete ship system supplier, Wärtsilä at Norshipping in announced that it will combine all its ship design units into a single entity, to be known as Wärtsilä Ship Design. The units involved in this reorganization include the recently acquired naval architect companies Vik-Sandvik of Norway, Conan Wu & Associates (CWA) of Singapore, and SCHIFFKO of Germany, as well as the company's conceptual ship design unit in Finland. "There will be close collaboration between our Ship Design unit, other parts of the Ship Power organization, and other Wärtsilä businesses. Our long term ambition is to create standard proven designs with predefined solutions, and to provide operational services with performance guarantees and fixed prices.

Wärtsilä has acquired the global ship design group Vik-Sandvik, an independent group providing design and engineering services to ship owners and the ship building industry worldwide. The value of the acquisition is $209.5m, with an additional maximum sum of $60m to be paid based on the performance of the business over the next three years. In 2007, Vik-Sandvik's turnover was $87m and the profitability is on a very good level. The number of employees is 410. The role of ship design is becoming more and more important due to higher performance requirements, more sophisticated systems, and increased integration onboard most vessels. Also, the environmental and emission regulations regarding NOx and CO2 are becoming increasingly stringent.

On May 15, 2012 at Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) a unique contract was signed between Groot Ship Design from Leek (the Netherlands), Sundong shipyard (Korea) and owner PBHH/BH livestock Vessel SDN BHD (Malaysia) for the design and delivery of two types of livestock carriers. Of each type the Korean yard will build 5 vessels for PBHH/BH Livestock. Sungdong requested Groot Ship Design to deliver the design for each type because of the knowledge and experience in livestock carriers and the innovating bow design of the Groot Cross-Bow©. For Groot Ship Design this is the biggest design order so far since the company started at the end of 2005. The future owner of the ships, the Malaysian company PBHH (Pembangunan Buka Jijau Holdings Sdn.

The Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) has created a Summer Naval Surface Ship Design program in cooperation with the Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering at the University of Michigan. The program will run from May 1 to June 16 and will include professors from the University of Michigan, the Naval Postgraduate School, Virginia Tech and instructors from NAVSEA’s Engineering Future Concepts and Surface Ship Design, Ship Costing, and Combat Systems Groups. The new series of courses is being offered at the graduate level on the unique aspect of naval ship design. The seven courses taught are: Naval Architecture Overview…

Germany's much-delayed new frigates, built by ThyssenKrupp and Luerssen for at least 650 million euros ($710 million) apiece, are overweight and float with a persistent list to starboard, according to a confidential report seen by Reuters. The ships, designed to need a crew of only 120, less than half their predecessors, are a crucial element in Germany's plans to beef up its military to face an increasingly uncertain European security landscape and a more assertive Russia. Designed to remain at sea for far longer than the German armed forces' existing fleet…

Paramarine software, developed by QinetiQ GRC, has been selected by Rolls-Royce who is broadening its ship design capabilities. Paramarine will be Rolls-Royce’s marine design software tool of choice in support of their newly formed team dedicated to the development of naval ship designs. Rolls-Royce has been at the forefront of innovative ship design for nearly 40 years, designing over 800 vessels, used mainly in the commercial sector. This new ship design team will create innovative designs for customers such as navies, coast guards and other maritime agencies. The primary focus will be on offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) and naval auxiliary opportunities, rather than large combatant ships such as frigates and destroyers.

Wärtsilä, the leading ship power systems integrator, has strengthened its presence within the Brazilian maritime industry by incorporating Wärtsilä Ship Design into Wärtsilä's Brazilian operations. A full range of local engineering services will now be available to shipowners, offshore operators and shipyards in Brazil. Customers will now also be able to benefit from Wärtsilä's technological developments in ship's propulsion, power generation and advanced service concepts. Wärtsilä Ship Design in Brazil is an integrated part of the company's global ship design organization, which already has major hubs in Europe and Asia. Wärtsilä Ship Design in Brazil will generate new designs…

The Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) has created a Summer Naval Surface Ship Design program in cooperation with the Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering at the University of Michigan. The program will run from May 1 to June 16 and will include professors from the University of Michigan, the Naval Post Graduate School, Virginia Tech and instructors from NAVSEA’s Engineering Future Concepts and Surface Ship Design, Ship Costing, and Combat Systems Groups. “A large part of the Navy’s civilian naval architects and engineers will be retiring in the next decade. We will face a shortage of these skilled professionals and we need to ensure that we recruit a new generation of architects and engineers with the right skills to design and build warships for the 21st Century Navy…

Wärtsilä's Ship Design unit has entered into a cooperation agreement with Chinese ship design house Shanghai Merchant Ship Design & Research Institute (SDARI). SDARI is a part of the China State Shipbuilding Corporation group (CSSC). The agreement was signed in December 2015 and will cover the designs for various types of vessels for the offshore oil and gas industry. There is also the possibility to extend this cooperation to other vessel types as well. The agreement provides…

Wärtsilä has acquired the global ship design group Vik-Sandvik, an independent group providing design and engineering services to ship owners and the ship building industry worldwide. The value of the acquisition is $169.9m, with an additional maximum sum of $48.9m to be paid based on the performance of the business over the next three years. In 2007, Vik-Sandvik’s turnover was $70.8 millions and the profitability is on a very good level. The number of employees is 410. The role of ship design is becoming more and more important due to higher performance requirements…

The unmatched track record and expertise that Wärtsilä has in LNG fuel solutions for the marine industry is again emphasised with the company's launching of a new series of LNG Carrier ship designs. This series of designs is the latest addition to Wärtsilä's ship design portfolio and is an important part of the company's strategic programme under the theme "Taking Merchant Shipping into the Gas Age". The series comprises four  vessel designs, the WSD59 3K, WSD59 6.5K, WSD55 12K…

A vessel with an asymmetric stern has a twisted aft shape that is designed to account for the differing flow conditions on each side of the propeller. The idea emerged in the 1960s, but due to the difficulty of manually developing the optimal shape, this design failed to make a large impact at the time. DNV GL has revisited the idea and, using high-fidelity computer fluid dynamics (CFD) in combination with parametric formal optimization, the classification society can now offer ship owners the option of incorporating an asymmetric stern into their new vessels.

Wärtsilä, the marine industry's leading solutions provider, has signed a contract with Nam Cheong Dockyard of Miri, Malaysia, which will build a Wärtsilä Ship Design (WSD) multi-purpose platform supply vessel (MPSV). This WSD 800 MPSV is the first in a new series of Wärtsilä designs being marketed as a total solution, including all relevant systems as well as the ship design. The total solution concept of the WSD 800 MPSV design includes four gensets. These produce more than 6 MW of electric power…

Two new Wärtsilä designed Anchor Handling Tug Supply (AHTS) vessels were delivered from the Wuchang Shipbuilding Industry Group yard in China during the second week of September. The ships have been built for China Oilfield Services Ltd (COSL), the largest fleet owner of offshore service vessels in China. The delivery of these two ships follows the success of the Wärtsilä designs for four AHTS and two Platform Supply Vessels (PSV) delivered in 2015 to the same customer, and which are now in regular operation.

The approval procedures of risk-based ship design is one feature of the European research project SAFEDOR. The SAFEDOR research project views safety of ships as an objective of the design process and not as a limitation imposed by standards or regulations. Within the project, a framework had been developed which is required for risk based approval. Today, 25 representatives of regulatory authorities, flag states, governmental administrations and classification societies are taking part in a training course on approval of risk-based ship design in Munich. For risk-based ship design, operation and approval to be effectively implemented, there is an urgent need to develop ways of approving innovative designs in an effective, practical and flexible manner.

ClassNK Releases World’s First Harmonized CSR Compliant Ship Design Support Software. Classification society ClassNK (Chairman and President: Noboru Ueda) has announced the release of a new version of its PrimeShip-HULL (HCSR) ship design support software that is fully compliant with the new IACS Common Structural Rules (harmonized CSR) for oil tankers and bulk carriers. The new ship design support software is the first in the world to fully support the new Common Strucutural Rules, which were adopted by IACS in December 2013.

The organizers of the Ninth International Marine Design Conference have planned a ship design conference and invite all professionals involved in the design of commercial and naval ships, and offshore platforms to attend. The aim of International Marine Design Committee (IMDC) is to promote all aspects of marine design as an engineering discipline with particular emphasis on issues of synthesis. The Ninth Conference will support and further this aim through a presentation of a keynote presentation and a strong technical program. The conference program will also return to the earlier practice of presenting state-of-the-art reports. The four focus areas of the Ninth IMDC conference are Naval Ship Design, Commercial Ship Design, Offshore Design, and Inland and Great Lakes Design.

Intergraph Corporation announced that Keppel FELS has chosen to broaden its implementation of Intergraph's software technologies. Keppel FELS will deploy Intergraph's integrated solution suite for ship design, assembly and modeling in Singapore as well as in other engineering centers globally. Intergraph's Process, Power and Marine technologies provide ship design and engineering support including design and assembly, materials planning and procurement, and information management. By leveraging these capabilities, Intergraph customers can look forward to improvements in design efficiency, production schedule and overall lifecycle cost control.

The technical program for the Society of Naval Architects and Engineers (SNAME) Annual Meeting and Expo (October 21-23 at the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence, Rhode Island) features papers on 35 ship design and production topics, three new continuing education courses and four timely panel discussions. Early registration discounts of up to $200 are available until September 23. “This year’s technical papers cover an expanded range of topics, presented in a format that encourages audience interaction and discussion with the presenters,” said Nancy Ostin, SNAME Director of Membership and Marketing. Abstracts of all technical papers can be viewed at the conference web site (www.snameexpo.com). The full text of each paper will be available online to registered attendees.

Bad ship design can make life onboard difficult and uncomfortable, cause accidents and even kill. Naval architects have a huge responsibility, but few of them have direct experience of how their designs affect those who use them. Improving Ship Operational Design, published by The Nautical Institute, hopes to make maritime operations safer and more effective by giving ship designers an insight into how those onboard work and live. The book was launched at the Royal Institution of Naval Architects’ (RINA) conference…