Foreship Establishes Tallinn Subsidiary
By Joseph R. Fonseca
Thursday, August 25, 2016
Naval architect and marine engineering company Foreship has created a wholly-owned subsidiary located in Tallinn to strengthen ties with shipowners, shipyards and marine equipment suppliers in Estonia, and support the development of locally-based design skills.
Foreship OÜ will commence operations on October 1 from its own premises, located in the brand new Öpik building within sight of Tallinn Airport, Lake Ülemiste and Tallinn Old Town.
The new company, which is 100 percent held by Helsinki-based Foreship Ltd, will be headed by Estonian national and structural engineer Sven Varushkin. Initially, Varushkin will be joined by two further Estonian structural engineers, transferred from Foreship’s Finnish headquarters, but Foreship Ltd Managing Director Lauri Haavisto sees the number of locally-employed specialists expanding to seven or eight within a year.
“The Estonian Maritime cluster is vibrant and growing,” said Haavisto. “The launch of Foreship OÜ demonstrates our commitment to the newbuild ship design and retrofit needs of a distinct and significant group of Baltic ferry owners, workboat builders and repair yards.”
Haavisto added that a number of Estonian graduates who had studied naval architecture and structural engineering at the University of Tallinn had moved on to MSc studies at Helsinki’s Aalto University, before finding a post with Foreship. “We are also delighted to establish Foreship OÜ as a way of attracting more of the brightest and best from Estonia’s naval architecture community to Foreship,” he said.
The new operation in Tallinn will work closely with existing Foreship Group offices in Finland and Miami, but Haavisto said that Foreship OÜ would also be tasked with expanding group activities inside Estonia.