Ship building

For the secure operation of ships, yachts and boats.

In the maritime industry of shipbuilding, work mainly revolves around the building, testing and repair of all types of ships at a shipyard. The work performed here in the shipyards goes far beyond the production of ship components (sections) and their final assembly. Thus the fixed installation of electrical plant and machinery, electrical equipment in accordance with DGUV regulation 3, as well as equipment, facilities and tests up to the initial commissioning also form part of the shipbuilding processes.

Quality and know-how made in Germany

Inland and maritime shipbuilding

Shipbuilders make a distinction in their industry between inland and maritime shipbuilding:

Inland shipbuilding: this includes vessels operating on rivers or large bodies of water.
Maritime shipbuilding: Includes ships that transport goods and passengers across the sea.

As an important part of the global shipbuilding industry, Germany with its shipyards is one of the most successful shipbuilding nations. In the meantime, many companies and shipping companies have specialised in the construction of special ships, such as ferries, luxury yachts and river cruise ships. Especially in the fields of special shipbuilding and ship technology, German yards occupy one of the top positions compared to the international competition. The German shipbuilding supply industry is the world’s number one. In 2019 the German shipbuilding industry accounted for about 18,000 employees from a wide variety of professions, ranging from electrical specialists to engineers.

Only many parts form a whole

The main products used in shipbuilding are shipbuilding steel, steel components, mechanical engineering parts and electrical and electronic components such as navigation systems, entertainment/communication systems, switchgear and electrical switchgear .
With an unusually wide range of services, Germany has the world’s largest shipbuilding supply industry here. Germany currently has around 130 shipyards, whose range of services includes merchant shipbuilding, repairs and conversions, inland shipbuilding, boat/yacht construction and naval shipbuilding.

Issues that are currently important and challenging faced by the maritime industry include:

Automation and digitisation
Innovative Ship technology
Energy and ship efficiency
future-oriented drive concepts
Ship and infrastructure

More passengers, more maritime tourism, more demands.

Whether it’s cruise ships or river cruise liners, more and more holidaymakers seek a pleasant diversion on seas and rivers. Cruise ships thus require extensive on-board power generation, advanced propulsion systems, entertainment facilities and many other highly complex systems and applications. As a result, the performance levels of ever more complex technology in the field of entertainment and communication systems increase accordingly. This is why the topics of ship automation, digitisation, energy and ship efficiency, ship electronics and process optimisation in ship operation are becoming increasingly important.

Shipbuilding priorities and subdivisions:

Building of new ships

This includes the complete manufacture of a ship following its design and assembly: Manufacture and installation of components, as well as electrical equipment and electrical systems, including tests, e.g. in accordance with DGUV regulations (for instance DGUV V3), commissioning and handing over of the documentation to the customer.

Ship conversion

Frequently a partial or complete conversion is not only more sensible than the new building of a ship, but also cheaper. By means of a ship conversion, that is also termed a retrofit, ships can for instance be equipped for example with modern ship electrics, modern switchgear, ship bridges and consoles, entertainment or navigation systems.

Fixed and non-stationary electrical installations and equipment in shipbuilding.

In order to bring ships, boats or yachts to life, shipbuilding requires a great deal of expertise and a large number of electrical installations, highly complex equipment and electrical devices, all of which must be installed and operated in accordance with the legal requirements. All the electrical engineering regulations must be observed here. The inspections of all electrical systems and electrical equipment performed at regular intervals also play an important part here with regard to electrical safety.
The core elements of the electrical equipment, installations and their testing required here cover a wide range of activities:

Automation /control

The modern ship automation system is designed to keep the ship’s machinery running smoothly and is equipped with state-of-the-art ship and boat electronics. This ranges from the monitoring, control, fitting with alarms as well as the regular and recurring inspection of the operating equipment to the documentation of the most marine processes.

Electrical installation

The electronics and ship lighting used on ships need to meet very special maritime shipping requirements. This is because no matter whether it’s a tanker, cruise ship or yacht, on the high seas, where boat electrics, light, technology and electricity are concerned, the thing that matters most of all is reliability and perfect functioning.

Boat electrics for switchgear/ power distribution

What one requires here is reliable ship electrics that can withstand the extreme conditions at sea. In addition, on board one is often faced by small amounts of space or angular rooms. Electrical and technical installations and housings are individually adapted for this purpose.

Entertainment/communication systems

No matter whether modern entertainment solutions such as video on demand or sound and sound systems, multimedia technology and the use of digital communication are becoming increasingly important for both small and large ships. Modern electrical systems for ship communication thus ensure reliable operation.

Electrical installations and equipment sectors:

External communication
Internal communication
Entertainment

Navigation systems

Until the mid-90s, people still navigated using a compass, sextant, log, sea chart, course triangle and a compass drawing tool. Nowadays, all new ships are equipped with modern navigation equipment and older ships are retrofitted and modernised. The highly complex and interlinked systems place high demands on the electrical systems and equipment.

Control desks

On the ship’s bridge, electrical equipment such as consoles, control desks and their regular inspection play a key part in ensuring safe operation at all times.

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