Building a powerhouse for innovative ship design

By acquiring all shares in Polarny Maritime D&E AS, Multi Maritime AS has created a larger, stronger company, ready to lead the way in designing ships for the future – today. 

Multi Maritime is the leading ship design company for car and passenger ferries in Norway. Nonetheless Johansen saw the need for an increased design capacity, to diversify its competence and to focus more on the international market. Mikael Johansen, CEO of Multi Maritime, and Chairman of the board in Polarny Maritime D&E, Gustav Johan Nydal, are satisfied with the merger and now look to the future.

– We made a strategic move in 2019, by acquiring all the shares in the ship design company Polarny Maritime D&E, says Johansen and continues: This is a great step forward for both companies, and together we will form a stronger, more competent company with larger capacity and capability. We wanted to strengthen our competence and broaden our product range, Johansen adds. 

– Multi Maritime and Polarny knew each other well, and there are some overlap of employees that has worked in both companies. The level of cooperation on projects has increased in later years. That made for a very natural progression, which resulted in Multi Maritime acquiring Polarny, says Nydal. 

“Multi Maritime is ready to grow further and we look to the future with optimism”

Home and abroad

For Multi Maritime, the biggest share of its business has come from the Norwegian market. The merger of the companies marks a shift towards more business abroad.

– Polarny has international experience and its client base will complement the client base of Multi Maritime. In Polarny we were searching for better ways to take on larger projects and to have more inhouse capacity in order to focus more on the international market, says Nydal.

– This puts us in a better position to take on new markets internationally. Multi Maritime is ready to grow further and we look to the future with optimism, says Johansen. 

Leading the way on electrical and hybrid powered vessels

The main focus of Multi Maritime in the latter years has been on the development of car- and passenger ferries, and in cooperation with several ferry operators the company has been in the front row of developing electrical and hybrid powered vessels. Multi Maritime is one of the leading companies in the world in this field, completing over 25 designs for such vessels, in addition to numerous refits of diesel-powered vessels to hybrid and electrically powered vessels. 

 “We can do more together than alone”

Positive reactions from employees and the industry 

Multi Maritimes acquisition of Polarny has been meet with positive reactions. 
– The industry and our customers have responded positively to the merger. The combination of skillset, competency and experience from the two companies will benefit both the company and our customers. Our staff are very positive and ready to take on new challenges and possibilities, says Nydal.  

After the newly completed acquisition, the company has 41 employees, and with cooperating partners has the capacity to employ up to around 70 people working on its projects.
– We can do more together than alone. This merger makes us one of the largest and most innovative companies in the field of ship design in Norway, Johansen concludes. 

Read more about Multi Maritime’s history here.