Equipment
Machinery
Major innovations in Finnish ship design
Chairman of the Board Jyrki Lehtonen from ILS with their project manager, Pyry Haimila.
Finland has a long history of high-tech achievements in the
domain of naval architecture and ship design, specifically in
producing blueprints for arctic ice-breakers or multipurpose
vessels. Meet Mr. Jyrki Lehtonen, M.Sc., one of the ship-
designing
forerunners in this field.
In two cities on the southern coast of
Finland, ILS Ship Design & Engineering
creates designs for newbuilding, conversion
and repair projects. The company
specialises mainly in ice-classified vessel
design.
”Naval architecture is our profession.
It is what we do from dawn to the twilight
hours,” says ship designer and Chairman
of the Board Jyrki Lehtonen from ILS.
”This line of work is in the process
of constant and rapid development. Digitalisation
has become a part of all industries.
In the case of ship design, things are
now moving faster and more efficiently
than before.”
Founded in 1988 by former shipdesign
specialists from Wärtsilä shipyard
– Jyrki Lehtonen among them –, ILS Ship
Design & Engineering is a privately-owned
marine engineering company with offices
in Turku and Helsinki. The current CEO is
Jyrki Lehtonen’s son Kristian.
ILS has decades of experience of carrying
out commissions for ship owners,
shipyards and other design companies
around the world, including high profile
design and consulting projects for Finnish
and international customers.
should first of all focus on what the ship
is eventually expected to accomplish, and
in what kinds of operating environments,”
Jyrki Lehtonen emphasises.
Testing the prototypes
At the present time, ILS designers are taking
part in various projects that will eventually
result in the building of different kinds
of ships.
”They include two passenger ships,
one car and passenger ferry, and one sizeable
cargo ship,” notes Lehtonen.
Quite often, designers utilise floating
scale models of prototypes to help in
their design work.
”This usually happens in the final
phases of design when most things are
starting to take shape.”
”Model tests will show how the
ship actually works on the waves – and
whether or not she works as she ought
to, in accordance with the design specifications.
Such tests are particularly important
for the design of ice-breakers.”
In southern Finland, model tests can
be arranged in Vuosaari and Otaniemi.
Abroad, test laboratories can be found in
Germany, Russia, and Canada.
”Additionally – and perhaps surprisingly
– there is a very good lab for model
tests in Austria where different types of
vessels are often tested for inland water
navigation” Lehtonen points out.
Vessels for all purposes
Propulsion systems are also an integral part
of ship design.
”All of ILS’s ship designers have been
trained for propulsion system design. Then
again, none of our designers are concentrating
solely on propulsion designs on a
whole-time basis,” recounts Lehtonen.
Many ILS projects over the years have
focused on the design on tugs.
”Typically, tugs are vessels that are
able to operate even in very difficult conditions.”
”We have also designed three multipurpose
ice-breakers that can operate as
ice-breakers in Finland’s winter – but in
summer they can double as offshore vessels
or supply ships, or perhaps cable-laying
ships. Each ship concept must be determined
individually, so that the ship can be
designed just for its future purpose.”
According to Lehtonen, arctic
research vessels are often intellectually
rewarding projects from the ship designer’s
point of view. He was one of the original
designers of R/V Aranda, the renowned
ice-strengthened Finnish research vessel
capable of operating both in icy waters
and on open seas.
”A few years back, we also designed
major alterations for the Aranda design,
giving the ship a longer life-span. The midsection
of the ship’s hull was lengthened
by more than 10 metres to provide additional
laboratory space and displacement
and to expand the operational capabilities
of the vessel,” he explains.
Global challenges
Finding new customers and new projects
can sometimes be challenging for ship
designers.
”These days, more and more ships are
buying built by shipyards abroad, even when
the ship has been designed in Finland.”
”Recently, ILS was commissioned by
a Russian shipping company to design an ice-breaking multipurpose tug. We provided
first the ship concept design and
later the final blueprints, but the ship was
eventually built by a shipyard in China,”
Lehtonen mentions.
”As it turned out, the resulting ship
was good and solid, even if it was the shipyard’s
first-ever ice-breaker newbuilding
project.”
Lehtonen feels that it is important
to communicate the ship designer’s intentions
in some detail to the shipyard, to
avoid any misunderstandings or construction
errors.
”Good cooperation can usually solve
all problems. Of course, communication is
more simple if the ship is to be built by a
local shipyard.”
”Even so, today’s shipbuilding projects
have become more globally oriented
than they used to be just a couple of decades
ago. Nowadays, is not uncommon
that shipowners select foreign shipyards
for the task of building their ships.”
by: Ari Mononen
photos by: ILS Oy
