Ship design and testing services

Railotech experienced concept design and testing organizations offer wide variety of services to make tested concept designs for new building projects and also to design changes to existing vessels and fleet when the future mission requirements need those.

Railotech (former Aker Arctic) is the world leader in the concept design of icebreakers and ice-going vessels.

The company’s roots lie in the Finnish shipbuilding industry, from where icebreaker design knowhow was transferred to Railotech in 2005. Since then, Railotech has produced tens of designs, which have been built in over ten different shipyards around the world.

Icebreakers and ice-going vessels are complex ships, executing multiple missions in the harshest marine environment conditions. The safety of both the crew and the vessel allows for no errors in design or construction. Railotech’s unrivaled experience in designing ships for icing waters ensures that customers receive the best possible vessels for their needs and for the safety of the crew.

Leadership in ice-going vessel design

Our competence and experience in supporting ship owners and operators throughout all phases of their asset investment and modification projects are based on the accumulated experience that no-one else possesses.

This unrivaled experience ensures our leadership in ship design for icing waters, guaranteeing that working with us will maximize the success of any project.

6 decades of accumulated know-how

Railotech’s accumulated know-how in ice-going vessel design dates back to the 1960s, when the first ice test basin was built in Finland.

Unrivalled ice testing experience

Together with our predecessors, we have completed over 700 model test programmes and over 150 full-scale icebreaker test programmes.

Focusing solely on ice-going vessels

Railotech has been an independent company since 2005 and is the only company in the world that focuses solely on design and engineering of ice-going vessels.

Leading icebreaker designer

Over the last 20 years 59 icebreaking ships based on our designs have been built on 11 shipyards. Today almost 30 ships are under construction or planned to be built at 6 shipyards.

Railotech’s ship design services

We have specialized experience in helping customers define their operational needs, translate them into technical requirements, and then create concepts and designs that meet these defined needs in the harshest marine conditions in the world.

Ship design and engineering

We create concepts and design to build ice-going vessels based on customer needs.

Propellers and shaftline deliveries

We engineer and deliver specialised propulsion solutions for icebreakers and ice operations. We also provide ice-capable propellers for navy ships, fulfilling their specific standards and underwater noise requirements.

Model test service

Model testing with miniatures at our own ice test basin is our internal, and arguably the most important, design tool to verify that the designs fulfil the set criteria before the ship is even built. Railotech also offers model test services to ship owners and other designers.

Build phase support

We support the shipyards to ensure that vessels are built on time and within budget. Questions inevitably arise during construction, and as the concept designer, we have the best competence to accommodate any changes during the build phase, ensuring that the changes do not jeopardize the ship’s performance.

Full scale testing

We verify that our designs meet the specified requirements and promised performance. We also offer full-scale test services for ship owners and designers, especially when an existing ship will be modified for future missions. As concept designers, we have the best competence to accommodate any necessary changes to existing designs.

Turning ice engineering knowledge into operational vessels

Rather than using a parent-design approach that modifies an existing built design, we create customer-specific concepts to fulfil the set operational requirements using our Proven Design Solutions. We have done this several times successfully, generating first-time-ever concepts that have become industry standards. A notable example is the Ponant’s Le Commandant Charcot, one of the world’s most capable icebreakers and a luxury cruise vessel, which reached the North Pole less than six years after the initial brainstorming meeting with the customer, where they expressed their business idea of offering cruises to polar regions.

For ship design, we use well-known solutions, but to ensure that built ships are safe in the world’s harshest marine conditions, we have also developed our own applications to complement commercial solutions. We have also made several innovations that have become industry standards, and most Finnish-born ice-going vessel related innovations have their roots in our design and engineering organization – for example, solutions developed for Polaris that became industry standards for assisting icebreakers, the world’s first oblique icebreaker, the DAS™ (double-acting ship), and many more.