From just the original four employees and two old armchairs, Havyard Design & Solutions (HDS) has passed the 100 design mark.
The most recent design reference was Kystruten’s coastal cruise vessels.
From the beginning in 2005 and over the 13 years leading up to now, HDS has grown to become a company with a long and varied list of achievements that has been important to the group as a whole.
“I don’t think that Havyard Group would have been here today without Havyard Design & Solutions,” said CEO, Geir Johan Bakke.
HDS’ start-up came with the purchase of Leine Maritime in May, 2005 plus the acquisition of four engineering companies during the succeeding years.
The original strategy was for Havyard to evolve from a yard into a ship technology company.
“Then, as now, it was about profit and reducing the risks in shipbuilding. In our opinion, it’s impossible to succeed over time by selling hours in Norway in competition with the rest of the world. Instead, we wanted to sell products. This also gives us a proximity to our customers that has mutual benefits,” Bakke said.
In recent years, HDS has also made great progress in the ferry market with the delivery of 12 battery-run ferry designs. HDS claimed to be at the forefront of this technology with its use of digital testing of hulls and energy optimisation.
This work has resulted in the most recent contracts with Kystruten. HDS, in co-operation with Sintef Ocean, has developed a new simulation tool that makes it possible to test hull shapes and propulsion solutions against the wave and wind conditions along the Norwegian coast.
“We’ve studied the conditions along the entire coast, and in every single one of the 34 ports where the coastal route calls, to calculate and document energy consumption. We’ve optimised the hull in relation to the weather conditions and its route, we recycle energy on the vessel, we use gas engines, and we have the world’s biggest battery packs. In this way, the ships can sail emission-free in the world heritage areas and meet the green policy requirements five years before the deadline,” he said.
“What kind of vessels we’ll be designing in five years’ time is anyone’s guess, but I’m optimistic on behalf of Havyard Design & Solutions. We are now celebrating our 100th design, but we’re going for 200!,” he said.
The Havyard Group is divided into five business areas:
⦁ Shipbuilding Technology, based in Leirvik in Sogn with branches in Fosnavåg and Turkey, with 171 employees.
⦁ Design & Solutions, based in Fosnavåg with branches in Poland, Rijeka and Shanghai, with 78 employees, of which 42 are in Fosnavåg.
⦁ Power & Control, based in Bergen with branches in Ålesund and Egersund, with 67 employees.
⦁ Fish Handling, based in Fosnavåg with branches in Sjøholt and Haugesund, with 143 employees.
⦁ Production & Services, based in Gdansk, Poland, with branches in Norway, Denmark and France, with 145 employees.
