Rina confirms purchase of Finnish ship designer Foreship

ITALIAN class society Rina has confirmed it has purchased Finnish ship design consultancy Foreship from its current owners, private equity firm Vaaka Partners and Foreship’s management.

Rina said the acquisition will provide an expansion of its marine engineering consulting offering worldwide, in addition to strengthening its presence in northern Europe.

Foreship is a leading provider of cruiseship concept designs, while half of its projects involve vessel conversions and retrofits in several sectors, including cruiseships, ro-ro vessels and offshore vessels.

In 2023, the Helsinki-headquartered company was engaged for a concept design of a 15,000 teu containership with Canadian tonnage provider Seaspan, in a partnership that includes container line operator Maersk and Ocean Network Express partner K Line.

Foreship had revenues of €15.2m ($17.5m) in 2024 and employs more than 90 staff in eight offices globally, including in the UK, US and Estonia.

Rina said Foreship’s experience in naval architecture offered “high synergies” with its Rina Consulting business and would provide opportunities to increase market share in maritime consultancy sector, in particular for complicated retrofits, new fuel integrations and digital transformation.

Foreship operations will be become part of Rina Consulting.

Commenting on the deal, Rina executive chairman Ugo Salerno said: “Foreship brings an exceptional track record and a depth of expertise in naval architecture that complements our own consulting engineering capabilities.”