NAPA

Shipowners are now signing 25-year contracts for vessels whose real-world efficiency won't be proven until years after delivery. That's the gap NAPA and Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) are addressing through a new Memorandum of Understanding, building on a joint project the two companies began in May 2026 around SHI's SAVER Wing wind-assisted propulsion design. Under the MoU, SHI plans to use NAPA's Operational Simulation to build digital twins of ship equipment, letting it verify a vessel's efficiency from the initial design stage rather than waiting for sea trials. Hyun Joe Kim, Executive Vice President at Samsung Heavy Industries, said: "Our customers are under more pressure than at any point in my career. They need vessels that will remain competitive and compliant for the next 25 years, and they need confidence in the efficiency data before they sign the contract. We chose NAPA because they have the tools, design expertise and data legacy to do this well." The MoU also outlines plans to integrate #NAPAVoyageOptimization into SHI's Samsung Autonomous Ship platform, so the same insight that shapes a vessel's design continues to guide how it's operated. More on the partnership: https://lnkd.in/eQt7kWMc #ShipOperations #DryBulkShipping #MaritimeDecarbonization #ShipDesign #WindAssistedPropulsion

Stability knowledge saves lives, but only when crews can apply it under pressure. NAPA is partnering with I.M.A.T-Training Center & Nautical College (IMAT), one of the world's largest maritime training centres serving over 7,000 vessels, to deliver advanced stability training that bridges the gap between theory and real-world decision-making. IMAT's simulator and training facilities recreate the operational realities crews face at sea, giving seafarers hands-on experience with NAPA software in conditions that mirror what they'll encounter on the water. Through the partnership with NAPA, this environment now also incorporates the same stability-management tools that many officers will use onboard. This means, NAPA Stability will be connected to the full operational simulation environment, including: ➡️ A safety center ➡️ A 40-metre navigation bridge built at full scale ➡️ An engine control room ➡️ A damage control system. Vessels are growing more advanced and data-driven. Crew training needs to keep pace. Read more about the partnership. Link in comments.                                                                                                                            #MaritimeSafety #StabilityManagement #ShipsandShipping #Crew #CrewTraining

NAPA is expanding its focus on helping U.S. shipyards, especially Navy and Coast Guard programs, build quality vessels on time and on budget, with the U.S. Maritime Action Plan bringing major stimulus and investment to the shipbuilding industry. In a new interview with Seapower Magazine, our Executive Vice President for Design Solutions, Mikko Forss, explains why North America has become such an important partner for NAPA. “Our customer base represents 90% of the annual shipbuilding output,” Forss said. “If we measure it in terms of compensated gross tonnage, we have a very strong position in the key shipbuilding markets in Korea, Japan, China, Europe, and, we have quite a few customers in North America.” Read the full article via Seapower: https://lnkd.in/eDjQJ7mG #Shipbuilding #NavalArchitecture #MaritimeIndustry #Engineering #NAPA #MaritimeActionPlan 

The NAPA User Meeting brings together over 100 naval architecture and engineering experts from around the world every year since 1984 – and this year's edition in Helsinki was no exception, welcoming participants from 20 countries and 57 organizations under the theme "Transforming the Future of Ship Design." Huge thank you to our Marketing Manager at NAPA Design Solutions Laura Siltala, who led her first User Meeting this year, bringing incredible energy and expertise to this decades-long tradition! According to Laura, “this has been one of the most rewarding parts of the project! It has brought me in contact with colleagues from all corners of the organization.” In the end, that is what the NAPA User Meetings are really about: the people who make it happen and the connections that last well beyond the event itself. Read more about the event here: https://lnkd.in/eifadbMr #NAPA #ShipDesign #MaritimeIndustry #NAPACareers #EnjoyWorkingTogether #theNAPAway

More than fifty years ago, the International Maritime Organization did something remarkable: it agreed on a common framework for keeping ships, and the people aboard them, safe. The SOLAS Convention, adopted in 1974, is still seen as one of the most important treaties to uphold the safety of merchant ships, and each iteration of SOLAS has been focused on making sure the industry continues to raise safety standards. The Safe Return to Port (SRtP) was introduced to SOLAS in 2010 to increase the robustness and fault tolerance of passenger ships. Even in the event of a fire or flooding casualty, the ship must be able to return to port under its own power and provide a safe area on board for everyone until it does. The requirement applies to passenger ships 120 meters or more in length, or with three or more main vertical zones. At its 111th session in May 2026, the IMO's Maritime Safety Committee approved new Explanatory Notes for Safe Return to Port and Orderly Evacuation and Abandonment. The revision widens the scope significantly, covering the full life cycle of a passenger ship, from early design and acceptance criteria through to testing, documentation and on-board operational guidance. The new Explanatory Notes will apply to ships with a building contract placed on or after 1 January 2028, or without one, ships whose keel is laid on or after 1 July 2028, or delivery on or after 1 January 2032. At NAPA, keeping up and complying with SOLAS has always been embedded in what we do. Our stability software supports SOLAS damage stability calculations at the design stage and, in operations, NAPA Stability is our next-generation Type 4 loading computer, designed to give both onboard teams and shore-based responders the information they need when it matters most. To know more about what it means for your operations, download our free guide. Link in comments #MaritimeSafety #SOLAS #ShipStability #PassengerShipSafety #NAPAStability #MaritimeRegulations

The maritime industry is facing a glaring paradox: how to embrace digital transformation in an industry held back by fragmented data flows and limited digital assets? In a new HANSA.news global+ feature, Monohakobi Technology Institutes’ Hideyuki Ando and NAPA’s Director of Product Research, Ludmila Seppälä lay out what it will take to change this: ➡️ Shared standards, so systems and stakeholders across shipbuilding can understand each other's data ➡️ Long-term data continuity across the full ship lifecycle ➡️ AI-enabled digital twins that connect design, construction, and operations As Hideyuki and Ludmila emphasize “Coherent digital asset management will drive lifecycle efficiency, sustainability and competitiveness.” Read the full article in HANSA+: https://lnkd.in/ensQUt-6 #Maritime #DigitalTwin #DataArchitecture #Shipbuilding #NAPA #AI

📢 We are pleased to announce NAPA Release 2026.1 The latest NAPA Release prepares NAPA Designer and NAPA Engineer for the AI era, with a unified look and feel, extended domain functionality and better connectivity across the platform. Overall, building a stronger foundation for AI tools to amplify the potential of the 3D integrated workflow. Key updates include:  ✔️ Redesigned user interfaces across NAPA Designer and NAPA Engineer  ✔️ New modeling and drawing tools toward detail design ✔️ Greater performance and robustness for larger, more detailed projects  Alongside these highlights, the new release includes lots of user-requested improvements related to geometry modeling, stability analysis and structural design. Dive into the release details in our blog: https://lnkd.in/e-62SyKP  #ShipDesign #MaritimeInnovation #NavalArchitecture #NAPASoftware 

“Shipping has made genuine progress on safety”, Esa Henttinen, Executive Vice President for Safety Solutions at NAPA, writes for Marine Log. According to the Allianz Safety and Shipping Review 2025, total vessel losses have fallen by 75% over the past decade, from 105 in 2015 to a record low of 27 in 2024. That progress deserves recognition, but so does the distance still to travel. In 2023, more than 30 seafarers died from asphyxiation in enclosed spaces, the second-highest annual toll in nearly three decades. The permit system’s lack of digitalization is adding to the seafarers’ cognitive burden and directing attention away from the safety processes intended to protect them. At NAPA, we are committed to closing that safety gap. Whilst we have the data on how these incidents are occurring, what has been missing is the digital infrastructure to make that data actionable in real time. Our AI-powered Permit to Work (PtW) Dashboard addresses this on two levels simultaneously. For crews, it reduces administrative load. For shoreside teams, they gain a live, fleet-wide operational picture of permitted work, turning the ship-to-shore connection from one of shipping's biggest safety blind spots into a genuine operational asset. Find the link to the full article in the comments. #MaritimeSafety #AI #Digitalization #Seafarers

Shipowners are making multi-million, multi-year commitments with limited visibility into how a vessel will perform in real operating conditions. NAPA and Samsung Heavy Industries are changing that! NAPA and Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to combine performance analytics, voyage optimization and operational simulation expertise with SHI's ship design capabilities. Together, we will help shipowners better understand the potential of their decarbonization investments from the earliest stages of vessel design through to operations. The collaboration will initially focus on vessels equipped with SHI's wind-assisted propulsion device, SAVER Wing. By modelling vessel performance in specific voyage and weather conditions based on actual operational data, SHI aims to provide shipowners with more accurate efficiency projections and earlier insights for informed investment decisions. The MoU also outlines SHI's aims to integrate #NAPAVoyageOptimization into its Samsung Autonomous Ship (SAS) platform and use NAPA's #OperationalSimulation capabilities to support efficiency verification from the initial design stage. EVP, Shipping Solutions Pekka Pakkanen commented: "With this partnership, SHI will be able to answer shipowners' questions and show exactly how their SAVER Wing solution will perform at sea. That bridge between design and operations is what shipowners have needed." #MaritimeDecarbonization #VoyageOptimization #WindAssistedPropulsion #ShipDesign #Shipping

At the recent 2026 NAPA User Meeting, we explored four challenges defining ship design today — and how NAPA software is purpose-built to meet them. Mikko Forss, Executive Vice President, NAPA Design Solutions, set the scene in his keynote: shipbuilding is now a strategic policy priority for governments globally, with the order book at a 17-year high. But record demand brings pressure. During the User Meeting, we discussed the solutions to the four challenges of ship design today: 🔹 Design tools turning the growing complexity of the industry into clarity. 🔹 Integrated design workflows connecting previously siloed design phases. 🔹 AI-powered tools turning the skills shortage into productivity. 🔹 Simulating designs on real routes and weather conditions, turning decarbonization pressure into future-proof designs. Read more about the key trends in ship design discussed during the 2026 NAPA User Meeting here: https://lnkd.in/eWbUqtW4 #NAPAUserMeeting2026 #NavalArchitecture #ShipDesign #ShipsAndShipping