104
JANNE UOTILA
FINAL WORDS
The COVID-19 global pandemic has
had a drastic impact on the maritime
industry, affecting all shipping sectors
from passenger ships to bulkers,
containers and oil tankers. Deltamarin of
course has also suffered, meaning that the
passenger vessel side in particular is and will remain
slow for upcoming quarters, even years. It should
be noted, however, that after the pandemic the fact
remains the same that 90% of global trade will become
seaborne. In the longer term, the fact that shipping
is the most fuel-efficient and carbon-friendly form of
commercial transport in the world should contribute
to an even greater proportion of world trade being
carried by sea.
Shipbuilding is known as a conservative industry.
It doesn’t proceed in leaps and bounds, but by small
improvements. Despite that, however, the maritime
industry is undergoing a transformation. Environmental
directives are getting tighter and tighter, and we at
Deltamarin have put a lot of effort into understanding
alternative fuels and new technologies. The question for
the operators and shipowners is how to cost-effectively
be compliant with the environmental regulations
set by the IMO. Seeing something positive from the
pandemic, we believe that the coronavirus
will actually boost efforts towards global
decarbonisation goals. We at Deltamarin
are talking about ‘future-proof’ ship design.
We’re still the leading designers in the world
when it comes to hull form development. We
have developed our tools, and are extremely good at
optimising the hull for its designated route and thus
reducing fuel consumption.
In addition to the optimised hull, Deltamarin has
taken a leap into data-driven ship design, which goes
hand in hand with the digitalisation of the maritime
industry. As an example, we utilise the available data
regarding ship operating patterns and surrounding
environmental conditions to optimise the ship systems
to these conditions. An instant result of the process
is understanding the current and future levels of
energy efficiency in the fleet. The same process also
leads to accurate evaluation of a ship’s environmental
performance after building and in the more distant
future. When we add to this our knowledge of the ship’s
total costs during her life cycle, we can design a ship that
is future-proof but still economical to build and operate.
Apart from being known for our hull development,
Deltamarin is famous for its service chain: we’re there