Wärtsilä is to combine all its ship design units into a single entity, to be known as Wärtsilä Ship Design. The units involved in this re-organisation 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.
The new set up will generate a variety of new designs, from simple, low-cost, standard vessels to more high-end, ground-breaking tonnage. Wärtsilä, with a broad and high quality offering of ship design services, expects to increase its share of the ship design market, with the main focus being on a full design scope approach.
“There will be close collaboration between our Ship Design unit, other parts of the Ship Power organisation, 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. This may also include extended services, such as yard selection and supervision support in the construction phase,” said Arne Birkeland, Vice President, Ship Design, Wärtsilä Ship Power.
“We will gradually launch a series of designs developed as a result of the knowledge sharing between the different units, and these will be branded as Wärtsilä Ship Designs,” said Birkeland. “It is our goal to establish Wärtsilä as an independent ship design brand, which will become the customer’s first choice,” he added.
The expansion into ship design is in line in Wärtsilä’s strategy to strengthen its position as a total solutions provider, and to be the most valued partner for its customers. Through ship design Wärtsilä can offer competitive solutions that will lead to better total efficiency, improved environmental performance, and reduced life cycle costs for its customers.
