In October 2010, Wärtsilä and Deltamarin announced that the two companies were cooperating to develop a series of ferry designs. The "integrated modular customised" (IMC) designs have now been unveiled.
Ferries are traditionally expensive to build for a number of reasons, but primarily because it is not feasible for them to be standardised. In essence, each ferry is custom designed, and they represent less than one percent of the world's shipping fleet. Similarly, operational costs tend to be high because of the regional and seasonal nature of the business, and as a result of port and weather restrictions.
Thus, the modular approach. Deltamarin has developed its own "parametric design" method for ships, which splits the design into pure cost elements and revenue generating aspects. This method opens the possibility for modularisation of construction, machinery, large equipment and onboard systems.
The IMC designs will be prepared for conventional as well as future fuels, including LNG.