Services
Concept, Basic & Detail Ship Design
Every vessel begins as an idea and ends as steel in the water, and the distance between the two is design. Blue Lines is a full ship design office: our naval architects, structural engineers and systems specialists take a vessel through concept design, basic design and detail design, either as a continuous journey or one stage at a time. Whether you arrive with a rough operational brief or a Class-approved basis that needs developing for production, we meet the project where it is.
Working from Constanța for clients across Europe and worldwide, we have applied this design discipline to tugs, workboats, barges, pontoons, dredgers, technical vessels, offshore structures and major conversions. A design office is only as valuable as the coherence it holds across those stages — a good concept undermined by disconnected detailing helps nobody — and keeping all three phases under one roof of naval architects, structural engineers and systems specialists is precisely how we keep intent intact from first sketch to cut steel.
The three stages of design
Concept design answers the first question — is this vessel feasible, and what does it look like in outline? We establish the main particulars, general arrangement, speed and capacity, and test the idea against the operational brief and the governing rules before serious money is committed.
Basic design fixes the naval architecture. This is where the vessel becomes real on paper: the lines plan, general arrangement, structural design of hull and superstructure, propulsion machinery layout, auxiliary systems, P&ID diagrams, electrical and control integration, weight distribution and a preliminary stability booklet — all developed to comply with the applicable international and national regulations, and prepared for classification-society approval.
Detail design develops the approved basic design into the fully detailed information a shipyard builds from: detailed structural modelling, systems routing, and the production and workshop drawings — including nesting and cutting files — that drive the shop floor.
Because these stages build on one another, a decision taken lightly at concept can echo expensively through detail design. We treat each stage as a foundation for the next, resolving arrangement, weight and structural questions early — while they are cheap to change on a model rather than costly to fix on a slipway.
Our process
- Brief and feasibility. We work with you to define the duty, constraints and rules, then produce a concept that proves the vessel is achievable.
- Basic design and Class approval. We develop the naval architecture in full and prepare the documentation the classification society approves, managing comments to approved status.
- Detail and production design. We turn the approved basis into detailed, buildable documentation, coordinating structure and systems in a single model.
- Build support. We stay engaged through construction, absorbing approved changes under proper revision control.
Standards & classification
Our designs are prepared for approval by the classification societies we genuinely work with — DNV, Lloyd’s Register (LR), ABS, Bureau Veritas (BV), RINA, PRS and RS — and comply with the statutory framework governing each vessel, including SOLAS, MARPOL, the HSC Code for high-speed craft, ES-TRIN for inland vessels and the Polar Code where ice operation applies. Where projects fall under flag-authority or national rules, such as AMSA or IRISH requirements, the design reflects them. Compliance is built in from concept, not bolted on before submission.
Deliverables
By stage, clients typically receive: feasibility studies and concept general arrangements; then lines plans, structural drawings, machinery and systems layouts, P&ID diagrams, weight estimates and preliminary stability booklets for the basic design; and finally detailed structural models, systems documentation and full production and workshop drawings for the detail-design stage — all coordinated and Class-ready.
The value of an integrated design office is continuity: decisions made at concept are honoured through basic and detail design, so the vessel that reaches the yard is the vessel that was intended. You can see the breadth of that work across our projects. To discuss a new design, a Class-approval basic design, or detail design to develop an existing concept, get in touch.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
- What is the difference between concept, basic and detail design?
- Concept design establishes feasibility and the main particulars — dimensions, arrangement, speed and capacity. Basic design fixes the naval architecture: lines, general arrangement, structural scantlings, machinery and systems, and the documentation a classification society approves. Detail design then develops that approved basis into the fully detailed information a shipyard builds from, including production and workshop drawings.
- Can I engage you for just one design stage?
- Yes. Clients come to us for a single stage — a feasibility study, a basic design for Class approval, or detail design to develop someone else's approved concept — or for the full journey from concept to production. We adapt the scope to where your project actually is.
- Do you handle classification-society approval?
- We do. We prepare the required documentation and manage the approval process with the relevant society — DNV, Lloyd's Register, ABS, Bureau Veritas, RINA, PRS or RS — including responding to comments through to approved status.
- What kinds of vessels do you design?
- Our portfolio spans tugs, pilot and crew boats, barges and pontoons, dredgers, technical and depollution vessels, floating establishments, offshore structures and complex conversions. The naval-architecture fundamentals carry across, and we apply them to the specific duty and rules of each project.