FORAN Expands User Base in Korea
These are difficult times for the shipbuilding industry, in particular that of Korea, which faces its worst-ever order drought. Big, medium-sized and small shipbuilders are undergoing deep restructuring as a consequence of the workload downturn. However, despite the crisis Korea is still the global leader in newbuilding deliveries, and its shipyards continue to demand, and now more than ever appreciate, improvements in all areas of management, design and production.
At a time of difficulty, but also of opportunity, FORAN, the shipbuilding CAD/CAM system developed and marketed by SENER, versatile, affordable and well-supported, continues to expand its user base in Korea, mainly among the independent design and engineering firms.
One the leading firms is Korea Maritime Services (KMS), founded in 1971 and author of more than 600 ships of all types for both domestic and foreign shipbuilders. With some 150 employees working from offices in Seoul and Busan, KMS pioneered the application of FORAN in the initial and basic design stages, more specifically in its R&D projects for high-performance container vessels from July 2015.
Smaller but equally active, Mokpo-based design company Fairline started using FORAN in January 2016 and has already completed three projects for its customer shipyards, namely a 15-ton workboat and a 70-meter car ferry for SK Shipbuilding at Boryeong, and a harbor tugboat for Samkwang Shipbuilding & Engineering at Incheon.
JM Engineering, located in Busan, got its license in July 2016. At present it is designing with FORAN a 3,500 dwt tanker to be built by EK Heavy Industries at Goseong.
Also in Busan, GAS Entec, engineering and design firm dedicated to LNG applications, has set up its FORAN implementation from July 2016 for the integral design of several floating storage and regasification units (FSRU), with capacity ranging from 15,000 to 26,000 m3, and LNG bunkering vessels. GAS Entec usually works with Philippines-based Atlantic, Gulf & Pacific (AG&P) shipyard and the domestic Kangnam Corporation, at Busan, and Goseong Offshore & Shipbuilding, in the same-named county.
The last one to join the club so far, in November 2016, has been Daewoo Marine Engineering Cluster (DMEC), an association of 7 ship and offshore design and engineering companies of Busan totaling 170 employees. DMEC has started applying FORAN in the collaborative design of a 4,700 dwt tanker for Kangnam Corporation.
One of the cluster members, Hansung Ship Engineering, which had already used individually FORAN in a few ship projects, has taken a step further and is using it for the design of a 5 MW diesel power station, which Total Solutions & Power will build in Papua New Guinea.
Worthy of special mention is Samsung Heavy Industries, whose Ningbo shipyard, in China, continues to apply FORAN for variations in the series of 50,000 dwt, IMO II/III eco-friendly super-efficient chemical/product tankers ordered by Greek shipowner Capital Management. Integrally designed in Korea in 2014 with the system of SENER, the series began with the M/T Active, delivered in March 2015, and is now in its tenth unit, the M/T Aqon, to be delivered in 2017.
While waiting for recovery of the industry, expected for 2018 at the earliest, SENER strengthens its position on the tough shipbuilding software market in Korea and keeps refining its CAD/CAM suite for new and greater challenges.