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Maritime research project "BESST" has signed a contractual grant agreement with the European Commission aimed at achieving a breakthrough in competitive, environmentally-friendly shipping.

"BESST - Breakthrough in European Ship and Shipbuilding Technologies" is made up of Europe's leading shipbuilders, including STX Finland, STX France, Fincantieri, Meyer Werft, Thyssen Krupp Marine Systems and Damen Group. In addition, Germanischer Lloyd (GL) along with 20 research institutes and universities, further four classification societies and 31 industrial companies form part of the research network.

Initiated by European Economic Interest Group EUROYARDS, BESST aims to achieve a breakthrough in competitiveness, environmental friendliness and safety in EU built ships with a focus on passenger ships, ferries and mega-yachts. The strategic objective of BESST is to secure and improve the competitive position of European shipyards in a sustainable way.

The primary goal is to increase the competitiveness of European built ships through decreased life cycle cost, drastically reduced environmental impact and continually improved safety. The estimated overall impact of BESST will result in a reduction of life cycle cost of roughly 120 million Euro per Panamax ship and a reduction of CO2 emissions by approximately 12 % per ship each year.

The key areas of technical developments include improved energy efficiency and reduced emissions, space optimisation and easy maintenance, improving payload to gross tonnage ratio, cost efficient building and refurbishment processes, noise and vibration, improved reliability through model-based design and condition monitoring, optimization of logistic chains as well as improving safety and security.

Advancements from the project will also be applied to other ship types built in Europe through modular and adaptable solutions. This will aim to ensure an impact reaching far beyond the passenger ship sector. The results will be integrated into virtual show cases, i.e. ship concepts demonstrating the technical solutions as well as the life cycle impact compared to current designs.

Continuously improved R&D cooperation and networking is seen by the project consortium as the European answer to the challenge of large Asian yards, overcoming the historic fragmentation of European shipbuilding and combining the high flexibility of smaller industry groups with the critical mass to achieve a breakthrough in innovation and market impact.

BESST will aim to achieve a close interaction with ship operators through a dedicated Advisory Group. A multi-level management structure, based on experience of the shipyards in previous research and development as well as commercial projects, will ensure efficient and targeted work of the large consortium to ensure the desired impact. The maritime research project began its work in September 2009 and will be completed in the summer of 2013.