Ready to cut steel: Offshore Ship Designers deliver detailed drawings

Efficient incorporation of advanced technology in the daily operation of working vessels, together with clear and detailed instructions for shipyards make Offshore Ship Designers (OSD) stand out. Quality of design and control over the realisation of the vessel has led to an internationally operating ship design company.

WMN 26 1“Ship design is not rocket science”, OSD’s president Michiel Wijsmuller tones down the profession he is in. “We try to implement useful innovations into our designs. Innovation comes from anywhere, new ideas from other industries may well prove an improvement in the maritime industry or in ship design. Our customers need vessels of guaranteed performance, that can be built economically and be operated efficiently.” Despite of these modest words, OSD has conceived some remarkable concepts for offshore support vessels and tugs during the last years, incorporating innovation to where it should be: in the working place.

To work out to the last bolt 

Naval architects are not always involved in detailed lay-out of power plants and equipment like OSD is. Ship design companies can be found all over the world, often ship owners and yards have their own preferred contacts. Therefore, it is striking to see OSD having four offices spread around the world and designing ships for yards all over the globe. At present, there are offices in IJmuiden (the Netherlands), Montrose, Appledore and York (UK), Shanghai (China) and Singapore. “We deliver drawings to customers that are worked out to detail, ready to start building”, Wijsmuller explains the international expansion of his design office. “We do not only compose design concepts, overall layouts and strength and stability calculations, we also work out drawings down to the last bolt and nut. This assures our customers that their ship will be built to specification.” In common practise, the design office leaves detailing of the design to the shipyard, that may have its own procedures and methods. The OSD director continues: “We do understand the importance of yard experience in order to deliver drawings and design details in such a way that yard floor professionals can work with them. That is why we have a lot of engineers that have previously worked at shipyards. They understand what kind of drawings and detailing the welders and pipe-fitters like to have. Of course, we keep track of construction progression after we have delivered the drawings and work closely with the client’s project manager.”

Deciding on core business

The main focus of OSD are tugs and offshore support vessels. “We are specialised designers”Wijsmuller reasons. “The origin of our company lies within the Wijsmuller group. What is now our company used to be the design branch within the towage and salvage company of Wijsmuller Holding. When Maersk took over Wijsmuller, the activities of our office were incorporated in that company for a short time, but the Danes figured design was not their core business. We then decided to continue as an independent company, just over ten years ago. Initially, we were named WorldWise Marine. Soon, however, we came to the conclusion that only designing tugs, like we used to do for Wijsmuller, was a quite narrow footing for our company. Choosing platform support vessels and offshore support vessels as a second specialism seemed the obvious thing to do, as these kind of vessels have a lot of similarities with tugs. This led to a merger with Scottish design office IMT in 2005. The combined company continued as Offshore Ship Designers, while the holding company and the brokerage company still operate under the name WorldWise Marine.”

WMN 26 2Ambitions

With the company operating from offices on both sides of the North Sea, growth did not stop. Ambition to deliver designs ‘ready to cut steel’ led to the establishment of the Shanghai office in 2007. “Design concept and basic design is what we mostly do in the European offices. Technical detailing is done in the Shanghai office. The fourth office in Singapore is a representative office, where clients are informed about the possibilities OSD offers and where four engineers keep track of construction proceedings with the designs that are being built at Singapore shipyards.”

The design company was involved in the Green Tug project, investigating alongside maritime research institute MARIN, towage and salvage company Iskes plus Smit Engineering, Bakker Sliedrecht Electro Industrie, Bureau Veritas, Nedstack Fuel Cell Technology, TNO Science and Industry and LindeGas Benelux future design of tugs, causing zero emission. Company focus on efficient and environmentally solid solutions is eminent. Another example of this approach is the S-bow. This OSD design is the next step following the introduction of the X-bow, improving hydrodynamic parameters of hulls as developed by Norwegian design office Ulstein. The S-bow adds a flared fore section to the X-bow in order to have dryer decks and safer working on the decks in rough conditions.

Hans Buitelaar

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