Offshore staff

SHANGHAI, China -- The Offshore Ship Designers (OSD) group has opened a design office in Shanghai, China. Initially staffed with six naval architects, it will provide design resources to OSD's European partners and also provide Asian shipyards with tug and offshore support vessel designs.

"We see increased demand from Asian yards for new designs," says Michiel Wijsmuller, managing director of OSD. "The offshore support vessel market in particular is booming and yards need innovative fuel saving designs which they can offer to operators. OSD can provide them quickly and our China office will give us both a local footprint and also a substantially enhanced capacity to deliver designs and support. We expect to substantially expand the office over the next year, with new designs for energy-efficient tugs and offshore support vessels."

OSD has recently undergone a change in partners with the acquisition by Norway's Ulstein Group of one of the founding partners, Dutch heavy offshore vessel designer Sea of Solutions. OSD now consists of the combined resources of WorldWise Marine and IMT Marine Consultants.

04/30/2008