Daewoo inks pact to develop SPS shipbuilding solution

Tuesday, Nov 11, 2008

Intelligent Engineering, the UK-based engineering and technology firm, signed a landmark joint venture agreement with South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering on Friday.

The purpose of the agreement is to employ the IE-invented “Sandwich Plate System” technology for the first time in mainstream shipbuilding.

SPS technology, which uses a solid polyurethane elastomer core to bind together two steel plates has, since its development in the early 1990s, been found to have significant advantages over stiffened steel.

However, until the agreement was signed between IE and DSME its use had been confined to ship repair, where IE has carried out repairs and reinstatement at major ship repair yards in Europe, South America and Asia.

IE chief executive Michael Kennedy said: “We are delighted to be partnering DSME, one of the world’s foremost shipbuilders. SPS is an important new materials technology that has the capability to transform the industries in which it is applied. We have already seen this in shiprepair and we are beginning to see it in civil engineering. Together with DSME we shall now be able to bring the change to shipbuilding.

Source: lloydslist