The town of Gävle, two hours north of Stockholm by the Baltic Sea, is known for its shipbuilding industry. In the mid 1800s, four of the six largest shipyards in Sweden were located there. Now, history is being made again in the spacious premises of Swedish Steel Yachts AB (SSY) in the town’s old shipyard area. The family company is working on an innovative prototype ship under the title “Project P16”.
The vessel is made entirely of stainless steel and it will be used for offshore patrolling by the coast guard, military, and sea-rescue services, or as a civilian transport boat. Other, highly-specialized Swedish companies are involved in the joint project, too.
“The idea is to find solutions for some of the key challenges in the boatbuilding industry and to provide more efficient, safer and greener ships for the future. This project can potentially open a whole new market for high-performance and sustainable vessels of this type,” SSY’s Head of Marketing Petra Rosén explains.
Design inspired by Vikings
P16 Prototype is built by using an innovative design concept, developed by SSY’s founder Håkan Rosén and inspired by the features of a traditional Viking boat.
“The patented construction provides progressive flexibility, which means that the hull moves in a controlled manner when subjected to powerful wave pressure, just like in the Viking age. Steel’s own qualities are used to add strength and performance. The ships’ technical lifecycle is basically unlimited,” Petra says.
The innovative design also made it possible to build an extremely lightweight ship. “The lightness of the P16 clearly reduces fuel consumption. The ship is maintenance-free, which saves precious time and money. It’s extremely resistant to saltwater, and can even be used when the sea is partly frozen – a useful feature in Scandinavian waters,” Petra points out.
No need for anti-fouling paints
For the ambitious project, SSY selected Outokumpu’s Forta SDX 2507 super duplex stainless steel. Outokumpu Nyby and Avesta delivered six to seven tonnes of stainless steel in 33 different sized plates.
“Forta SDX 2507 is the only option with the product qualities the end-users require. It is high-strength, durable, one-hundred percent corrosion-resistant, and maintenance-free with very good tensile strength. The whole boat is made of this grade,” Petra says.
Last but not least, all metal under the waterline is specular/2P polished, which ensures that marine organisms attached to the hull can be removed either with a low-pressure hose or even at very low speeds. As a result, there’s no need for environmentally hazardous and expensive anti-fouling paints.