New orders received result in excellent perspectives for Remontowa Marine Design & Consulting
Date of publication: 06.11.2013
Many people think that after the fall of the two large yards in Szczecin and Gdynia and having in mind the current difficulties of Gdansk Shipyard  the Polish shipbuilding industry does not exist. Nothing more wrong. In the Gdansk region the sector is doing very well. For example the Remontowa Holding with its 27 companies is developing dynamically and has very good financial results. The Holding includes among other companies such well known shipyards as Gdansk Shiprepair Yard Remontowa S.A. and Remontowa Shipbuilding S.A. (formerly Northern Yard). Its successes would not be possible without the design office Remontowa Marine Design & Consulting Ltd, which being a separate company is also a part of the group.Employing more than 150 engineers Remontowa Marine Design & Consulting Ltd.(RMDC) is the largest company of this type in Poland. Other ship design offices in Poland are much smaller, are often parts of foreign shipyard groups and often do not practically have backing of any shipya

Many people think that after the fall of the two large yards in Szczecin and Gdynia and having in mind the current difficulties of Gdansk Shipyard  the Polish shipbuilding industry does not exist. Nothing more wrong. In the Gdansk region the sector is doing very well. For example the Remontowa Holding with its 27 companies is developing dynamically and has very good financial results. The Holding includes among other companies such well known shipyards as Gdansk Shiprepair Yard Remontowa S.A. and Remontowa Shipbuilding S.A. (formerly Northern Yard). Its successes would not be possible without the design office Remontowa Marine Design & Consulting Ltd, which being a separate company is also a part of the group.Employing more than 150 engineers Remontowa Marine Design & Consulting Ltd.(RMDC) is the largest company of this type in Poland. Other ship design offices in Poland are much smaller, are often parts of foreign shipyard groups and often do not practically have backing of any shipyard.

Drilling vessel design is the beginning of a new trend


The flagship undertaking currently under way in RMDC is the design of the deepwater drilling vessel having 202 m in length and enabling drilling down to 10 000 m (3 000 m in water and 7000 m in the ground). A contract for complete design was signed by Norwegian company LMG Marin AS from Bergen with Brazilian shipyard Estaleiro Atlantico Sul (EAS) from Suape. Consequently the Norwegian design office subcontracted 70 % of the design work from RMDC.  The RMDC scope of work includes a part of marine basic design, complete electrical basic design, complete detailed design of marine systems, integration of drilling systems into marine design, technical support to EAS in purchase of machinery and equipment. The yard intends to build seven units worth abt. 600 Mio USD each according to this design for the well known Brazilian shipowner  SETE in which Petrobras has majority of shares. Beginning of 2013 EAS started steel cutting. Currently the yard is prefabricating hull blocks. The complete value of the documentation prepared by RMDC exceeds  the price of a small vessel. Moreover it should be underlined that realization of such an undertaking gives RMDC substantial experience in management of big offshore projects requiring a large number of designers representing different specialties. The gained practice opens to RMDC perspectives  to undertake in the future designs of world’s largest offshore structures like FPSOs, drilling rigs etc. The publicity related to the large project already resulted in new orders from outside the Holding among which is an order for documentation for the conversion of another drilling vessel.

New contracts ensure full employment of the design office


The first three quarters of year 2013 were very good for RMDC. The company received from Remontowa Shipbuilding several important orders. First the design office obtained the contract for complete documentation of a double ended dual fuel propulsion ferry to be built for the authorities of Danish island Sams. Moreover the company received an order for detailed design of a modern cable laying vessel to be built for Norwegian owners Siem Offshore. Signing contract by the shipyard for one such vessel plus one in option was a real breakthrough in the market as in the past Norwegian owners ordered such complicated units exclusively in Norwegian shipyards, and Polish companies received orders for partly outfitted hulls only.

Strength is coming from specialization


Since years RMDC has been specializing in designing double ended car passenger ferries navigating in Norwegian fiords. Fourteen different types of such vessels have been built by Remontowa Shipbuilding according to these designs. The experience gained allows RMDC to discuss about new ferries directly with shipowners starting from concept design. RMDC has also track record in design of gas carriers. The field is now very popular due to environment protection,  large amounts of LNG on the market because of shale gas production in US and in consequence increase of transport of liquefied gas by sea at the expense of transport by pipelines. Several years ago the office designed for a Dutch shipowner Anthony Veder Rederijzaken a modern gas carrier with 7500 cu.m capacity and able to carry three types of gas LNG/LEG/PLG. Since a few years RMDC is also one of the few design offices in the world having genuine experience in design of ships with gas propulsion. At the moment two double ended car passenger ferries of SKS 165 type with dual fuel propulsion designed by RMDC are close to completion for Norwegian shipowners Norled. Last year the yard delivered four gas ferries of another type. The expertise gained by the office results in many enquiries for the design of newbuildings and conversion of ordinary diesel engine rooms that would enable to burn LNG.

RMDC provides engineering services for conversions of ships and drilling platforms

Till2012 nearly half of the working hours of the design office were sold to Gdansk Shiprepair Yard Remontowa, which being one of the largest repair yards in Europe, is specializing in large conversions. Most spectacular are conversions of offshore rigs.  It happened in the past that three different platforms were converted or refurbished in the same time by the yard. In case of most of these conversions RMDC was responsible for detailed engineering. One of the largest design was prepared by RMDC was related to the conversion of tanker into FPSO. The vessel is now operating on the Brazilian shelf on Petrobras charter. Moreover RMDC is also specializing in engineering for conversions of ordinary tankers into shuttle tankers. A dozen of such designs have been already prepared.  In result RMDC is now able to prepare complete documentation for such conversions  starting from concept design. Normally the RMDC scope of work for such conversions covered documentation of hull changes, new living quarters, and renewal of electrical systems often resulting in assignment of DP class notation.

Strong team of electrical engineers always finds full employment

It has to be underlined that RMDC has a very strong and versatile group of electrical engineers. The team easily gets orders independently from orders for design of complete vessels. The group includes power electricians, automation specialists as well as experts in navigation, communication, fire detection and alarm systems. No other marine design office has such a versatile and experienced group of electrical engineers. For example this year RMDC finished detailed design of electrical power systems for a wind farm service jack-up vessel. The order was placed by German company SAM Electronics.In the world this type of design jobs is usually ordered from specialized integrator companies.

RMDC started design of navy vessels

In September 2013 a consortium of three Polish companies led by Remontowa Shipbuilding received from the Polish Ministry of Defence a contract for design and delivery of on mine hunter of KORMORAN II class. The vessel will be 58 m long and will have approximate displacement of 850 t. The vessel will be built by Remontowa Shipbuilding (previously known as Northern Yard specializing in navy and technical vessels). It is expected that after delivery of the prototype the yard will get an order for further vessels of the class. In September 2013 RMDC received concession from the Polish Ministry of Defense allowing it to design navy vessels and implemented all necessary procedures. Soon after RMDC received an order for complete marine design of the vessel. Since years RMDC and Remontowa Shipbuilding had a common quality assurance system meeting requirements of ISO 9000 and AQAP 2110 standards. At the moment RMDC is implementing its own quality assurance system and is planning to certify it beginning of 2014.

Future perspectives are good


Many years of experience in cooperation with two large shipyards belonging to Remontowa Holding gave RMDC stability and versatile experience, what in turn allowed the company to enter international markets. The first larger design contracts were signed with clients from outside Remontowa Holding in year 2011 only. Meanwhile financial results of the first three quarters of year 2013 are showing that more than half of the company income is originating from sale of documentation to companies outside the Holding, mainly coming from offshore industry. In the same time in total RMDC also increased the level of engineering services rendered to both shipyards of the Holding , although not in the same degree to each shipyard. The current order book ensures the office good degree of employment till the end of 2016. This means that prospects of development of the company are very good in the coming years.

 

Witold Żylicz

Board Member
RMDC
Remontowa Marine Design and Consulting Sp. z o.o.