MagiCAD meets the challenges of ship design at Helsinki Shipyard

The art of engineering is on full display in shipbuilding. When space is at a premium and systems are required to operate flawlessly, HVAC design requires exceptional precision and efficiency. Senior HVAC Designer Rami Huuskonen from Helsinki Shipyard knows this well. The company adopted the MagiCAD Ventilation, Piping, and Room modules for AutoCAD at the end of 2023 and Rami is now able to share his experiences on the software’s potential in the world of ship design.

Helsinki Shipyard

Operating in Finland’s capital city, Helsinki Shipyard specializes in advanced marine technology and shipbuilding. The company has extensive experience in the design and construction of passenger and cruise ships, but it is especially known worldwide for its rare expertise in building icebreakers. In fact, about half of the world’s operational icebreakers have been built at Helsinki shipyard.

Canadian Group Davie acquired Helsinki Shipyard in 2023 with the goal of expanding its expertise in Arctic shipbuilding and icebreakers. The shipyard and its more than 400 employees—who are primarily engaged in project management, design, and ship construction—continue to operate under the Helsinki Shipyard brand name.

More efficient design with MagiCAD

HVAC designers have a comprehensive role at Helsinki Shipyard. “We handle all ship design work in-house. Our HVAC designers are responsible for practically everything related to design and equipment selection from start to finish,” says Rami.

At the end of 2023, Helsinki Shipyard adopted MagiCAD to streamline its design process. The first project using the software is already well underway, and Rami is now able to assess MagiCAD’s impact on their design work.

“We’ve now used MagiCAD from the early design phase all the way to final implementation and system balancing. The software has significantly helped in the initial dimensioning and balancing process because we can more easily estimate the preliminary pressure losses in the systems. MagiCAD has also clearly sped up and simplified the actual drawing work compared to what we used before.”

Helsinki Shipyard has previously used Excel and other calculation tools to support system calculations. With MagiCAD, the use of these tools has been completely phased out, and designers can now rely directly on the calculation values generated by MagiCAD.

Unique challenges of shipbuilding

The impact of MagiCAD on design quality has already become evident at Helsinki Shipyard during the very first project. The software allows designers to examine routing and clashes in relation to the ship’s structures—such as beams and their lightening holes—already in the early project stages. When piping systems are modelled in 3D right from the start of the design process, routing becomes significantly easier.

Rami highlights space limitations as a particular challenge in ship design: “In shipbuilding, technical rooms and other spaces used by HVAC systems are extremely small compared to building construction. The precise modeling and clash detection made possible by MagiCAD facilitates the design process.”

In addition, MagiCAD’s routing tools have helped in the production of space-specific installation drawings. These are typically required in ship projects and indicate pipe elements and connection points for installation purposes.

The requirements for component lists can also be more detailed in ship design than in other sectors. However, Rami believes MagiCAD will significantly speed up this task: “A typical ship project might include nearly 4000 HVAC components, which we have previously entered into the system manually. We’re currently setting up export configurations, and once we’re able to automatically list and import components directly into our material management system, we’ll save a significant amount of working time.”

MagiCAD was a natural choice

Rami himself has extensive previous experience with MagiCAD, but many of the designers at Helsinki Shipyard are still in the early stages of using both MagiCAD and AutoCAD. Despite the varying levels of experience, the software has quickly become a natural part of the company’s design process. Rami sums up the key reasons why Helsinki Shipyard chose to integrate MagiCAD into its ship design work:

“Being able to examine routing and clashes already in the early planning stages is a big advantage. In addition, I personally have a long history of using MagiCAD, and nearly all of our equipment suppliers have made their products available for use within MagiCAD.”

Located in Finland’s capital, Helsinki Shipyard specializes in marine technology and the construction of special vessels designed for challenging conditions and demanding routes. The shipyard has a long tradition and unmatched expertise in the design and construction of icebreaking and high ice-class vessels for demanding and harsh environments. Helsinki Shipyard is also a leader in the design and construction of high-end passenger and cruise vessels. Shipbuilding activities at the Helsinki shipyard began 160 years ago, on March 4, 1865, when Helsingfors Skeppsdocka was authorized to establish a shipyard in Hietalahti. The shipyard is known as a pioneer in Finnish shipbuilding, a major employer, and a prominent part of Helsinki’s history and cityscape.