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How we work

Enviroinventions designs and licenses foil-assisted catamaran platforms. We do not own yards. We do not operate vessels. ESS Marine Ltd handles Gulf commercial activity. The rest is design, engineering, validation, supplier integration, and post-delivery support.

This page describes what each of those looks like in practice — and what working with us means if you are a yard, operator, transport authority, technology partner, or fleet manager.

The design-and-license model

Our approach is similar to how Volvo Penta delivers its propulsion systems: our complete foil package is optimised, manufactured, delivered, and installed in the same way — a tested, classed, supplier-supported assembly that integrates into the yard’s build process without the yard having to design the underlying foil system from scratch. The package model is what makes industrialisation possible and what gives operators and yards confidence in repeatable performance and quality.

We go beyond the Volvo Penta model in one important respect: alongside the foil package, we also deliver complete vessel designs and construction / class drawings. What Volvo Penta leaves to the naval architect and the yard, we provide as part of the platform offering. Yards integrate a complete classed vessel design with a complete foil package; operators get a vessel that performs to specification because the entire platform has been engineered as a single integrated system.

This is a deliberate position. We don’t own yards because owning yards would put us in competition with the builders we depend on. We don’t operate vessels because operators evaluate us on independence and technical merit, not on a captive fleet. The asset-light shape is a commercial choice, and it sets the structure of every counterparty relationship below.

What’s in an EnviroCat design and engineering package

A delivered package includes:

  • Construction drawings at the level required for build, classed to DNV HSLC notation, structured for the yard’s build-management process.
  • Classification documentation sufficient for direct submission to DNV (or equivalent flag-state class society) without re-engineering — stability calculations, scantling justification, propulsion-system integration documentation, and supporting validation.
  • Bill of Materials and equipment specifications for propulsion, power electronics, battery systems, automation, and major mechanical and electrical equipment.
  • Reference General Arrangements for relevant vessel use cases — passenger ferry, crew transfer, SAR, ambulance, tourism, pilot, workboat — to accelerate operator-side specification.
  • Topside customisation paths that let yards and local naval architects adapt seating, equipment, branding, and operator-specific fitout without compromising the underlying hull and propulsion package.
  • Negotiated supplier pricing and terms from strategic component partners (Volvo Penta, Brunvoll, ZEM, Helseth, and others), accessed through us.

Engineering accuracy and quality are underwritten by Enviroinventions. The validation behind the package — CFD analysis, tank-testing at Stadt Towing Tank, the foil-development sequence documented on the Technology page — is the same validation that supports the classification submission. Yards do not have to defend our numbers; we defend our numbers.

Analytical engagement: how we configure the platform to fit

Configuring the right vessel for a route, a fleet, or a public-procurement programme is not a one-meeting exercise. The route, the operating profile, the existing fleet, and the regulatory environment all carry constraints that shape the answer. We engage in deep analytical work with operators, fleet managers, and procurement agencies to map those constraints to a platform configuration that fits:

  • Route and operational profile modelling — daily distance, cruise speed envelope, sea-state profile, port-time windows, hotel and peak power loads, contract horizon.
  • Energy budget calculation at named cruise points: kWh per nautical mile across speed bands, daily and weekly energy requirements, charging-window analysis where electrification is in play.
  • Configuration optimisation — vessel size, propulsion type (electric / hybrid / ICE), propulsion supplier choice (CPP, IPS pods, waterjet), battery sizing and architecture, use-case fitout.
  • Total cost of ownership analysis — CapEx, OpEx, fuel or energy, emissions cost, regulatory and reporting cost across the contract horizon.
  • Fleet renewal scenario modelling — for operators and agencies looking at multi-vessel programmes: which existing vessels make sense to retrofit, which to replace with newbuilds, in what sequence, against what budget envelope.
  • Tender-support analysis — for public-procurement processes, the same analytical layer supports technical-specification mapping, classification path, TCO modelling against the procurement’s evaluation criteria.

The analysis is honest where the fit is wrong — if a route is better served by a different platform, we say so. This analytical layer is integral to the platform offering, not a separate consulting service. It is the most differentiating part of working with us.

Working with yards

The yard relationship rests on a single commitment: we do not compete with yards on build. We provide the design, the engineering, the classification documentation, and the supplier coordination. The yard executes.

Topside customisation is done in cooperation with the yard and local naval architects. Operators routinely have preferences for layout, furnishing, and topside equipment; rather than forcing them into a fixed reference configuration, we engineer the platform to enable topside variation without compromising hull and propulsion integration. The yard becomes the integrator of the operator’s customisation against our platform — work the yard is already structured to do well.

Build supervision is available when yards or operators want it. Strategic supplier pricing flows through to the yard. Documentation, engineering updates, and clarification support continues through the build lifecycle.

For yards considering a preferred-builder relationship, we structure scope by region or segment rather than global exclusivity. Exclusivity rarely serves either side.

Working with operators and fleet managers

The operator engagement starts with the analytical engagement described above — not with a vessel order. From that analytical foundation, the engagement extends across three operational layers:

Retrofit feasibility. For operators running existing high-speed catamarans, the retrofit service starts with feasibility analysis on the host vessel: hull characterisation, foil-fit study, classification path assessment, cost and payback estimate. If the analysis supports proceeding, the service continues through foil-kit production, installation in cooperation with the operator’s yard or a partner yard, and performance monitoring and optimisation post-installation.

Pilot programs. For operators considering the platform as a fleet strategy rather than a single vessel order, we structure pilot installations or pilot newbuilds with measurement and reporting agreed upfront — so that procurement and finance teams have validated numbers when the wider commitment comes due.

Performance monitoring. Post-delivery and post-retrofit, we work with operators on operational data to confirm performance and tune operating practice. Fleet and asset managers receive structured performance reporting under an operating agreement — useful for asset valuation, fleet renewal planning, and regulatory disclosure.

Working with transport authorities and procurement bodies

Public procurement is its own discipline. Norwegian fylkeskommune procurement (Innlandet, Vestland, Nordland, Troms og Finnmark, Rogaland, and others) operates within a tight regulatory framework with zero-emission and total-cost-of-ownership criteria. Gulf authority procurement — Abu Dhabi Maritime, RTA Dubai, and analogous bodies in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Oman — operates on tender frameworks with local-content, classification, and after-sales-support requirements.

We support tender responses end-to-end: technical specification mapped to the vessel platform, classification path, total-cost-of-ownership models, local-content arrangements where required, after-sales structure, and operator references. The analytical engagement described earlier applies at the fleet and procurement-programme scale as well — counties and authorities running multi-vessel renewal programmes get the same route-by-route energy modelling, configuration optimisation, and TCO analysis their operators would. In Gulf markets, ESS Marine Ltd and our local partner Al Masaood handle in-region engagement and local-content delivery.

Authority engagement is not transactional. We maintain ongoing dialogue with the counties and authorities setting fleet electrification trajectories, so that when tender windows open, the platform is already understood.

Working with technology partners

Integration decisions are made on operating evidence and operator fit, not on vendor preference.

Propulsion is the clearest example. The EnviroCat platform is propulsion-agnostic across both mechanical propulsion and electric drive systems. For mechanical propulsion, we integrate controllable-pitch propellers from Kumera Helseth and Servogear, Volvo Penta IPS Electric pod systems, and waterjet propulsion from multiple suppliers. For electric drive systems in electric and hybrid configurations, we work with Brunvoll Mar-El, ZEM, and other compatible suppliers. Which configuration is right depends on the operator’s route, speed envelope, manoeuvring requirements, draft constraints, and operating-cost analysis — not on any single propulsion preference of ours. Kumera Helseth also collaborates with us on foil-plus-propulsion hull integration, which improves the integration quality of CPP-equipped configurations specifically.

Other major component categories follow the same logic: battery systems (ZEM), thrusters and manoeuvring systems (Brunvoll), and engineering and integration (Maritime Engineering, with foil-hydrodynamics specialty via Audun Yrke, inventor and co-founder of Wavefoil). Each partner is on the platform because the engineering supports it and the commercial relationships are structured to benefit the operator and the yard, not only us.

For technology partners considering an integration into the platform: we are open to evaluation on technical merit. Our existing relationships are durable but not exclusive where the operator benefits from a different choice.

Engagement paths

  • If you are a yard considering an EnviroCat platform for a build — request the platform technical overview and book a build-feasibility briefing.
  • If you are an operator evaluating fleet renewal or retrofit — request a route and duty-cycle analysis, or, for existing high-speed catamarans, a retrofit feasibility study.
  • If you are an authority or procurement body — request a tender-support briefing or platform-overview presentation tailored to your procurement framework.
  • If you are a technology partner with a proposal — contact us with a technical and commercial summary.

[Book a 30-minute briefing] [Download the platform overview (PDF)]