Germany’s Harren & Partner has acquired a major stake in ship designer HeavyLift@Sea.
The Hamburg-based designer will develop carbon-neutral solutions for Harren’s “cornerstone” fleet of heavylift and multipurpose vessels.
Harren has grown in recent years to be one of the leaders in the heavylift and MPP sector through acquiring rival companies.
The new venture signals its apparent interest in retrofit and newbuilding projects.
“In the next few years, we will successively expedite the development and addition of the fleet towards a new generation of carbon-neutral heavylift carriers,” said chief executive Martin Harren.
Those zero-carbon ambitions require extensive ship design and engineering capacities that will be provided by the 14 HeavyLift@Sea employees transferred to work for the Bremen-based shipowner, he said.
They have experience in building new and converting heavylift vessels and deck carriers, Harren added.
“From now on, the engineers will be in direct contact with the respective operators. This will allow them to see, inspect and constantly improve their work in a purposeful way,” he said.
Newbuilding potential
Hendrik Grone of HeavyLift@Sea said: “We see enormous potential for new buildings,” adding that the partnership “secures our team’s basic capacity utilisation for the next few years”.
Grone will remain as co-managing director together with Jakob Christiansen, Harren's head of research & development, retrofit & newbuilding.
Privately owned Harren operates in the heavylift, wind and project cargo sector under brands including SAL Heavy Lift, Jumbo-SAL-Alliance, SAL Engineering and Intermarine.
It also provides ship management services to a fleet of 82 heavylift carriers, bulkers, tankers, dock ships, container ships, tugs, barges and offshore vessels.
“SAL Engineering has already 40 engineers working on maritime engineering solutions for our fleet — with some potential to grow in the area of ship design,” Christiansen said.
“We are now closing this gap. The cooperation with HeavyLift@Sea is the logical next step for us to secure experience and know-how.”
HeavyLift@Sea was founded in 2012 to offer design and planning services for the heavylift and offshore sectors.
