Introducing: Naval Architectural Services Limited, a Maltese maritime services company leading the way in the green transition
We are honoured to introduce Ing. Kurt Gutteridge and Dr. Kurt Mizzi from Naval Architectural Services Limited, to Green Deal Malta’s platform! NAS Ltd. opened a Research, Development, and Innovation department in 2018, with the scope of actively engaging in research that contributes to decarbonisation and low environmental impacts in the marine industry. The company was also involved in two ‘Horizon 2020’ projects, namely ‘VENTuRE’ and ‘GATERS’. Take a look at the work which is being done by NAS Ltd., a Maltese maritime services company leading the way in the green transition!
Naval Architectural Services Ltd. (‘NAS Ltd.’), founded in 2011 by Ing. Kurt Gutteridge, provides various marine technical services to local and international clients, including services catered towards decarbonisation and low environmental impact of vessels. The company was initially focused on the survey and design sectors of the industry but has rapidly evolved to offer support and consultancy in various specialist areas such as ship and yacht stability, detailed marine structural design, hull optimization services and the application of energy saving devices for energy efficiency. NAS Ltd. positions itself at the forefront of the sector by ensuring constant investment in human and technical resources which are essential in a knowledge-based industry where technological development and innovation are key to success. This has therefore incentivised NAS Ltd. to open a Research, Development, and Innovation department in 2018, with the scope of actively engaging in research that contributes to decarbonisation and low environmental impact in the marine industry. The global targets set by the International Maritime Organisation (‘IMO’) for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions have further motivated the company’s research and innovation efforts, led by Dr. Kurt Mizzi, to focus on new fuels and state-of-the-art energy efficient designs towards achieving the company’s ambitious goals of achieving zero emissions and low environmental impacts in the shipping and yachting industry. The company is currently involved in two ‘Horizon 2020’ projects, ‘VENTuRE’ and ‘GATERS’.
‘VENTuRE’, ‘A Virtual and physical ExperimeNtal Towing centre for the design of eneRgy Efficient sea-faring vessels’, is a ongoing project that aims to bring together international leading research organisations, namely the University of Strathclyde from the UK and the University of Genoa from Italy, with local institutions, such as the University of Malta and NAS Ltd. to transfer knowledge and to enhance the scientific and technological capacity in the area of energy efficient ship design. Through this project, the partners will exchange knowledge, enhance their networking capacity, and raise their research profile. This project will help contribute to providing Malta with a good base to further develop its scientific and technological capacity in the marine industry. This project, No. 856887, has received funding from the European Union’s ‘Horizon 2020’ Research and Innovation programme.
“We should strive to reach a point where sailing the seas would have no, or insignificant impacts on the marine environment”.
Recently, NAS Ltd., on behalf of the ‘VENTuRE’ project, has been awarded the Blue award for having participated in a research & innovation project in the maritime field within the ‘Horizon 2020’ Framework Programme. This achievement was one of the nine awards that were awarded by the Malta Council for Science and Technology (‘MCST’), in nine different categories and areas. The intention of this award was to distinguish projects that had a beneficial impact on the research community.
‘GATERS’, (‘GATE Rudder System as a Retrofit for the Next Generation Propulsion and Steering of Ships’) kicked off in February 2021 involving 18 consortium members from various countries including Universities, research institutes, industrial entities, as well as class societies. The overall objective of ‘GATERS’ is to bring together leading technology experts to investigate and exploit the potential benefits and impacts of the Gate Rudder System (‘GRS’) technology, which is an alternative solution to the conventional rudder system. Initial studies indicate that the GRS provides high energy saving, thus requiring less fuel to propel ships, whilst producing less emissions, enhanced manoeuvring indicating better performance, and noise reductions. ‘GATERS’ Innovation Action Project is sponsored by the European Commission ‘H2020’ Programme (ID: 860337). The project has an official sub-license agreement with Wartsila Netherlands BV to utilise the Gate Rudder Patent (EP 3103715) at specific retrofit projects of vessel sizes below 15000 dwt.
NAS Ltd. continuously looks for opportunities to actively engage and contribute to research in the marine industry and strongly believes that we should strive to reach a point where sailing the seas would have no, or insignificant impacts on the marine environment.
Contributor(s)
Ing. Kurt Gutteridge
Ing. Kurt Gutteridge is a naval architect and marine engineer by profession. He carried out his studies at the University of Newcastle in the UK. He is the director of Naval Architectural Services Ltd. and was appointed as a Government of Malta Approved Surveyor of Ships, responsible for the survey and certification of various ship types under the Malta flag.
Dr. Kurt Mizzi
Dr. Kurt Mizzi is a naval architect and marine engineer by profession. He carried out his undergraduate and doctorate studies at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow. He then joined Naval Architectural Services Ltd. in 2017 as a Research, Development, and Innovation Engineer.
