Ship Design
Ship Design
Navtech provides complete ship design services — from first concept and hull form through basic and detail design to a class-approved drawing package — for tankers, cargo vessels, barges, tugs and offshore support vessels operating in the UAE, the Gulf and beyond.
Concept, basic and detail ship design
Ship design works best when the commercial mission drives the technical decisions rather than the other way round. We begin from your operating profile — cargo, route, draft restrictions, crew and class — and develop the general arrangement and hull form against that, testing each layout option for weight, stability and powering before it becomes expensive to change.
- Concept design and feasibility studies with owner requirement definition
- Hull form development, lines plan and hydrodynamic optimisation
- General arrangement, capacity plan and tank arrangement
- Basic design package covering all disciplines for class submission
- Detail and production design coordinated with the building yard
Vessel types we design
Our work spans commercial and working tonnage rather than a single niche, which means design decisions benefit from experience across vessel families that face similar problems in different forms.
- Oil, product, chemical and bitumen tankers
- General cargo vessels and container feeders
- Deck cargo barges, accommodation barges and crane barges
- Tugs, workboats, crew boats and supply vessels
- Offshore support vessels and specialised service craft
Multi-discipline design under one roof
A ship design is only as good as its weakest discipline, and most delays come from interfaces rather than from any single calculation. We run naval architecture, structure, piping and machinery, and electrical together, so that the stability picture, the steel weight, the system routing and the power balance stay consistent as the design develops.
- Naval architecture — hydrostatics, stability, load line, tonnage
- Structural design — scantlings, midship section, FEM where required
- Piping and machinery — P&IDs, routing, machinery arrangement
- Electrical — load analysis, single line diagrams, cable routing
- Weight control and centre of gravity tracking across the whole design
Class approval and yard support
We prepare documentation to the reviewing society’s templates and carry it through the comment cycle to approval, then stay available during construction. Drawings are produced with buildability in mind — details a yard can fabricate with the equipment and skills it actually has.
- Submissions to BV, DNV, RINA, ABS, IRS and Tasneef
- Flag state and statutory documentation coordination
- Response to class comments through to stamped approval
- Technical support to the yard during construction and commissioning
Frequently asked questions
Do you design ships from scratch or only modify existing vessels?
Both. We take newbuild designs from concept through to a class-approved package, and we also carry out major modification and conversion design on existing tonnage. In practice many owners come to us with an existing vessel and a new commercial requirement, which sits between the two.
Which class societies do you work with?
Bureau Veritas (BV), DNV, RINA, ABS, Indian Register of Shipping (IRS) and Tasneef are the societies we submit to most often. We prepare documentation to each society’s own format and manage the comment cycle through to approval.
Can you work with our chosen shipyard?
Yes. We work with the yard you select, and we produce drawings suited to that yard’s fabrication capability. Where you are still choosing, we can support technical evaluation of yard proposals and buildability comparisons.
How long does a ship design project take?
A concept and feasibility study is typically three to six weeks. A basic design package for class submission is commonly three to six months depending on vessel size and complexity, with detail and production design running alongside construction. We give a firm schedule once the scope is defined.
What do you need to start a ship design enquiry?
Vessel type and intended service, principal dimensions or cargo capacity target, operating area and any draft restrictions, intended class society and flag, and your target delivery date. If you have a reference vessel or an existing general arrangement, that speeds things considerably.
Related engineering services
Have a vessel and a scope in mind?
Share your drawings, class society and target dates — we respond within 24–48 hours.