Smart & Circular Shipbuilding: digital, modular and circular

Shipbuilding is of strategic importance for the delivery of ships that are needed for essential societal tasks. The intended effect of this sub-programme is to build internationally competitively and sustainably. This effect is strengthened by applying a circular approach in design, construction, maintenance and modifications during the lifespan of ships. This is described in the Flagship Programme “The shipyard of the future”, which is part of the Sector Agenda for the Maritime Manufacturing Industry.

Intended results

To ensure the future sustainability of the maritime manufacturing industry in the Netherlands, it is necessary to reduce the costs and lead time of production. A prerequisite for this is the intensification of cooperation in the supply chain, supported by the application of digital techniques. More specifically, this sub-programme must lead to the following results:

• New forms of digital and business economic cooperation in the chain from supplier to end user of the ships have been proven. To this end, living labs are set up in which participants jointly gain knowledge and experience and share this with each other.
• To reduce the cost price, far-reaching automation and robotisation of production is necessary. In the living labs, various techniques are demonstrated and assessed for potential applications. The integration into the forms of cooperation and the digital techniques are included.
• To recoup investments in digitalisation, automation and robotisation, scaling up production and strengthening the export potential is necessary. An exploration of the possibilities for scaling up (technical, business economics and organisational) provides insight into the potential for investments.
• The necessary scaling up is promoted by the development of standards for design, engineering and construction processes. Where possible, the establishment of standards is based on international developments.

The social pressure to build ships in a circular manner is increasing. This will also translate into stricter regulations, such as the European Corporate Societal Responsibility Directive (CSRD). The circular approach includes making the materials used and energy consumption during construction transparent, a design approach to extend the lifespan of ships, and promoting the reuse of materials and components throughout the entire life cycle. More specifically, this should lead to the following results:

• Digital methods to make the use of materials transparent and traceable throughout the entire life cycle, development of a materials passport.
• Methods for making circular principles (Reduce, Repair, Reuse) applicable throughout the entire life cycle from design to use of ships.
• Strategies for reducing energy consumption and emissions during construction, maintenance and modifications of ships.