18 lose any of the competence it had in-house.
Unfortunately, ultimately that step did have
to be taken as well, but fortunately for a short
period only.
“We have invested in marketing and
research and development,” says Kanerva
in an interview with the Swedish Svensk
sjöfartstidning magazine in 1994. “Now it’s
time to harvest the fruits of our labour.”
One of the advantages Deltamarin had
in the market was efficiency – because the
company funded its own R&D, there was great
motivation to work efficiently in order to turn
a profit. There had to be concrete results in a
short amount of time. On the other hand, as
Managing Director Alf Björkman put it in the
same interview, “the most radical of ideas are
abandoned in the process, which is a shame.”
At the time, Deltamarin was investing in
research into the hydrodynamics of the
hull. One of the niches of hull construction
was the design of bulbous bows and stabilityimproving
sponsons and ducktails. In addition
to this, Deltamarin was continuing working on
diesel-electric propulsion, which was starting
to gain traction in the cruise ship sector. That
year, 90% of all projects Deltamarin participated
in involved diesel-electric propulsion, thanks
to system innovations developed by the R&D
department with Jari Nurmi at the helm.
Around this time, Deltamarin found a
new niche market in naval yards in the US.
Together with Finnyards, Deltamarin worked
on the renewal of Ingalls Shipbuilding
shipyard in Mississippi, converting it from
a naval into a commercial shipyard. The
OVERCOMING THE RECESSION OF THE 1990s
Ro-ro passenger ship
MV Blue Star Ithaki, a
prototype high-speed
handy-size ferry,
designed by Deltamarin
for Strintzis Lines (later
Blue Star Ferries).
(Photo: Shippax)