The first experiences of Jan Tellkamp, the new Project Manager Research and Development in Germany, show that German customers are attracted by DNV’s strengths in both Business Development and Research & Development.
Examples of business development triggered by German industry are a recent contract for ten containership newbuilds for a German owner that was awarded to DNV because the CEO of the owner expects DNV to help design fuel-efficient ships, a German/Cyprus-based ship manager inviting DNV to jointly develop an Enterprise Resource Planning system covering maritime aspects. A German yard has challenged DNV to create a safe ship automation system and system integration for its newbuildings. Our challenge is now to satisfy German market expectations.
“In Germany, through funding schemes that are dedicated to the maritime industry and are supported all the way up to the German Chancellor, universities, ship owners and other stakeholders can tap in to funds of up to some € 50 million per year. This is a well established system and my job is to be the link between the German shipping industry, R&D and projects either generated by DNV or in which we have been assigned a part,” says Jan Tellkamp. His position is new and he has been in the job for six months. He previously worked on R&D and product development at Flensburg shipyard for the past eleven years. “The yards are pushing us and they are quite progressive in thinking about their future, yielding some very concrete projects, such as the use of fuel cells as the energy supply on cruise vessel, and gas-driven passenger vessels. My job will be very much to drive the process, including working closely with the DNV Oslo environments such as DNV R&D and the consultancy parts of DNV Maritime, as well as with ITGS, which has a strong office here in Hamburg.
Another topic that might become of interest and is triggered by German customers is the issue of system integration.
“Software and IT solutions, software integration and communication between different systems and software are some of the challenges which are attracting more and more attention. The interface between complex systems is a ’headache’ for most of those involved in shipping. Ship owners just cannot have a dedicated computer specialist on every vessel – maybe not even at their headquarters. This area, where a ship is out at sea with several ‘black boxes’, is a huge challenge. At DNV, we have a separate business area called ITGS (IT Global Services) and together we will address this theme,” says Tellkamp. ITGS has ambitious plans for the future and its goal is to be recognised as the leading independent professional consultancy committed to helping clients improve their capability in IT processes and systems that are safety or business critical.