Shipyard consultants

Shipyard development – bring your maritime projects to life

Safety, efficiency and a fit-for-purpose working environment are shipyard essentials, but so too is profitability, resilience and future-readiness. This means constantly optimising how you operate, minimising costs, maximising revenues, and integrating sustainability and digitalisation into the way shipyards are planned, developed, and operated.

At Haskoning, we have more than 70 years’ experience planning, engineering, and procuring successful shipyards across the globe. And our unique and comprehensive client services have made us a world leader in the maritime sector as demonstrated by our experts authoring of the British Standard for shipyard design, BS6349 Part 3.

Established in 1991, our shipyard technology group First Marine International (FMI) is also a leading provider of maritime consultancy services and expertise in naval architecture-based shipyard production.

Likewise, our economic consultancy group Ocean Shipping Consultants (OSC) offers expert understanding in specialist areas of shipping economics and port development, such as providing comprehensive global shipping trade forecasts.

Together, we can deliver the support, consultancy and expertise you need to bring your shipyard projects to life, from traditional shipyard planning and development through to greener, smarter and more resilient operations.

Green Shipyards: future-proofing operations, performance and reputation

Shipyards are under increasing pressure to reduce emissions and strengthen resilience, while remaining competitive and profitable. A Green Shipyard integrates sustainability across operations, infrastructure and governance, embedding it into strategy, design and daily operations.

At Haskoning, we help shipyards improve energy efficiency, reduce operational costs, and strengthen long-term resilience through sustainability strategy, operational decarbonisation, climate resilience, and circularity. Our practical, data-driven approach helps clients prioritise investments, unlock sustainable finance, and create more future-ready shipyard environments.

By integrating sustainability into shipyard operations and infrastructure planning, clients can reduce costs, improve profitability, strengthen ESG performance, and create more resilient and competitive shipyard operations.

Smart Shipyards: enabling connected, efficient and data-driven operations

Shipyards are becoming increasingly complex environments, with growing pressure to improve operational efficiency, optimise assets, and strengthen resilience. Traditional planning and management approaches often rely on fragmented systems and disconnected data, limiting visibility and slowing decision-making.

A Smart Shipyard integrates digital technologies, operational data and asset intelligence to improve planning, coordination and operational performance across the asset lifecycle. Through digital models, simulation and lifecycle information management, shipyards can improve planning, optimise operations, and reduce downtime.

At Haskoning, we support Smart Shipyard transformation through digital strategy, operational simulation, integrated digital delivery and asset intelligence, helping clients create more connected, efficient and future-ready operations.

By connecting information across planning, construction, operations and maintenance, shipyards can move from reactive operations towards predictive, data-driven decision-making.

The shipyard planning process

At Haskoning, our multi-disciplinary teams develop innovative approaches to monitoring and analysing the shipbuilding and ship repair markets, continually surveying factors that impact shipyard development, including sustainability requirements, digital opportunities, infrastructure performance and long-term market demand.

This strategic research gives us the insight needed to build a bespoke business plan based on your target location, revenue, markets, and other operational requirements. We can also perform feasibility studies to find your ideal shipyard location based on financial viability, sustainability, layout, digital readiness, and long-term resilience.

When your business plan is finalised, our expert teams are always at hand to advise and support development throughout the shipyard’s life cycle.

Our shipyard capabilities

In addition to developing new dock and shipyard facilities, we also modernise existing facilities, giving them a new lease of life and improve competitiveness.

Past projects include increasing dry dock capacity through widening, lengthening, and enhancing operations by retrofitting infrastructure. This includes ship hauling-in and winching systems, dock arms, fendering, crane beams, rails, and dock services.

Haskoning’s expert teams can find you the ideal solutions to all aspects of shipyard planning, design and development, including:

Shipyard technology

• Market research and strategic planning
• Operational review and strategic planning
• Pre-production organisation and technology
• Production process technology
• Industry and competitiveness studies
• Facilities and development
• Benchmarking and performance improvement
• Green Shipyard strategy and decarbonisation
• Smart Shipyard digital transformation

Shipyard infrastructure:

• Dry docks
• Dock and lock gates
• Shiplifts
• Slipways
• Floating docks
• Harbour creation
• Quays
• Jetties
• Mechanical and electrical systems
• Workshops and people buildings

Future-ready shipyard infrastructure must increasingly support sustainability ambitions, digital integration, adoption of new technologies and new product lines, while strengthening long-term operational resilience.

Our Shipyards brochures

As industry experts, we can support you through all the stages of the shipyard life cycle. Whether you’re building a new shipyard or you’re looking to upgrade existing facilities – we have a solution for every aspect.