BMT

BMT is a maritime-orientated high-end design house and technical consulting firm driven by a passion for solving complex, real-world problems. The company delivers design, engineering and consulting excellence across growing compliance requirements, new global competitors, pressure to do more with less, ever-faster innovation cycles and less time to exploit market positions or new technologies.

BMT was created in 1985 from the British Ship Research Association and the National Maritime Institute, part of the National Physical Laboratory. The company’s origins trace back over a century of maritime science and engineering achievements, including work by Charles Parsons, inventor of the steam turbine, and the National Physical Laboratory founded in 1900 as one of the world’s oldest standardising laboratories.

The company has over 1,300 professionals across 27 offices in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia. BMT operates as an Employee Benefit Trust, established in 1998, ensuring independence from external shareholders and allowing impartial, long-term decision-making aligned with sustainable futures.

Core services include Maritime Design and Consultancy supporting defence and commercial maritime vessel and infrastructure owners, operators and maintainers across the lifecycle from design, integration of capabilities and life extension of existing platforms. Asset Monitoring and Sustainment supports customers in the maritime, offshore and pipeline markets in managing asset portfolios to ensure structural integrity, efficiency and longevity of operations. Environmental and Climate Solutions supports customers in understanding and mitigating impacts of environmental and climate effects on assets and operations. Defence and Security Advice and Services supports government organisations to procure new capabilities, support solutions and deliver business and capability change. Business Transformation services help deliver complex change. Design advisory offers design consultancy services ensuring optimal costs and operational efficiency. Design management advisory provides understanding and knowledge to navigate complexities of transition from design and build contractor to end-user ownership. Hull form design brings experience to naval architecture challenges.

The company has a track record of over 300 vessels in service across the world. In 1987, BMT was appointed to advise the UK’s Department of Transport following the Herald of Free Enterprise capsizing, ultimately resulting in reformed regulations for safe vessel operation. The company investigated the Piper Alpha platform disaster and the Sea Empress disaster, led debate on ferry safety surrounding the MS Estonia, and consulted on the MSC Illona and Hyundai Advance collision in Hong Kong, the Athos 1 spillage in the Delaware, MS Napoli in the UK and Diamond Princess in Japan.

In the 1990s, BMT expanded internationally with new offices in the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, the USA, Singapore and Australia. The company designed a new dockyard for the Royal Thai Navy and contributed to the engineering system design of the UK’s Vanguard-class submarines. It was awarded a 40 million dollar contract to modernise the fleet of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). BMT designed the pontoons for Hong Kong airport’s Skypier ferry terminal, serving nine ports and connecting the region to over 200 destinations worldwide. The company tested the aerodynamics of Stonecutters Bridge, the world’s fourth longest spanning cable-stayed bridge. BMT maintained a decades-long relationship with the Royal Thai Navy, advising on planning and operation of their naval dockyards and assisting in operation of commercial dockyards, including preparation of master plans, provision of operating support, maintenance support and supervision of ship and barge construction in commercial yards.

From 2000 onwards, BMT played a pivotal role in development of the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers in the UK, providing expertise in design and engineering, from optimising hull designs to managing project risks. The company provided master planning of Singapore’s Jurong Port and broke into ice and materials technology industry in Canada. BMT launched TUFLOW, a groundbreaking hydraulic modelling software setting industry standards for flood risk management in Australia. The company acquired Nigel Gee and Associates to expand and strengthen vessel design capability worldwide and collaborated with the US Navy on the Sea Fighter (FSF-1), a unique high-speed experimental vessel. Naval knowledge deepened further with surface combatant studies for the UK and submarine design courses at University College London.

BMT authored definitive guidelines for offshore helicopter operations and won Singapore’s Prime Minister’s Innovation Award in 2006 for floating stadium design. The company unveiled a new brand with the nautilus as its symbol, reflecting energy, insight and technical solutions. By 2009, BMT had launched subsea pipeline sensor technologies for offshore oil and gas customers, conducted Hong Kong’s first offshore wind farm Environmental Impact Assessment, and reported on maritime freight traffic and ship movements to and from UK ports.

To mark its 25th anniversary, BMT launched BMT Giveback, a philanthropic initiative supporting a new drainage system in a village in Ahmedabad, India. The company built the Bridge of Hope for a small Indonesian island village, connecting it for the first time to the mainland. BMT consulted on water pollution, ports, logistics and aquaculture, collaborated with the University of Queensland to help save the Great Barrier Reef, and conducted the Brisbane River Flood Study, which became the industry standard.

The four 200-metre next-generation Tide Class tankers, designed by BMT and part of the Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability (MARS) project for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, were delivered in 2015. Partnering with QinetiQ and Atkins, BMT formed Aurora, the UK MoD’s Engineering Delivery Partner. BMT Deep is a cloud-based data and digital platform designed to organise, analyse and visualise years of scientific and engineering data from sensors and simulations, enabling collaboration between internal and external clients across use cases including offshore structural integrity management, coastal engineering, climate risk assessment, port and dredging operations and renewable energy projects.

In 2019, BMT delivered a 35-metre high-speed interceptor patrol boat design for Ares Shipyard, a 35-metre firefighting vessel with Penguin Shipyard, and the MV Alfred Ro-Pax catamaran for Pentland Ferries with Strategic Marine. The company was IET Innovation Award finalist for its Boat Stopping Device and collaborated on VSimulator facilities with Bath and Exeter Universities to study vibration impacts on well-being. The 26-metre high-speed interceptor patrol boat designed for Ares Shipyard and built for the Royal Oman Police Coast Guard is capable of reaching speeds exceeding 50 knots. The 35-metre MFV-R high-speed aluminium firefighting vessel, designed for Penguin Shipyard in Singapore and built for the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), is engineered for rescue missions and rapid response operations, capable of operating in Chemical, Biological and Radiological (CBR) contaminated areas. The 85-metre catamaran vehicle-passenger ferry designed by BMT and built by Strategic Marine Vietnam for Pentland Ferries carries up to 430 passengers and 98 cars and was awarded Ship of the Year by Cruise and Ferry Review.

From 2020 onwards, BMT broadened skills as a key supplier into the UK’s Defence Digital organisation. Vessel designs achieved multiple prestigious awards including Support Vessel of the Year at the Offshore Support Journal (OSJ) Awards for a midsize crew boat and Ship of the Year from Cruise and Ferry for the 85-metre Pentamaran ferry. The company won the Shippax Technology and Design Award for a groundbreaking 100% LNG-fuelled ROPAX ferry developed for Netherlands operator Rederij Doeksen. The SATV design was finalist for the ASEAN Wind Energy Innovation Excellence Awards.

In 2023, BMT secured its largest-ever contract in the organisation’s history for the UK Royal Navy’s Fleet Solid Support (FSS) ships and committed to net-zero emissions by 2035. The company strengthened its position in maritime simulation with the launch of DNV-accredited BMT REMBRANDT Version 7, featuring advanced environmental data processing, VR integration and voice control. This technology supports the UK Ministry of Defence, Admiralty pilots and Serco tug masters.

In 2024, BMT partnered with Ocius to develop a concept to propose deployment of 1,000 autonomous vessels for environmental monitoring and maritime security in Australia. The company launched the 48-metre methanol-ready Service Operation Vessel (SOV) designed to optimise offshore operations and the StratCat 35-metre CTV developed with Strategic Marine setting new standards for sustainable crew transfer. With Greenline Marine Inc., BMT unveiled the innovative 32-metre Greenline 150 Passenger Electric Ferry. Developed in partnership with PSA and Njord Offshore and built at Penguin Shipyard, the award-winning 36-metre SATV is a versatile and innovative vessel designed for extended field operations with an advanced AFS system enabling precise manoeuvring and mooring against monopile wind turbines. The award-winning innovative 100% LNG-fuelled ROPAX ferry Willem Barentsz, designed for Rederij Doeksen in the Netherlands, operates within the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Wadden Sea and significantly reduces NOx, CO2 emissions and noise.

BMT achieved DNV Class A certification for five new bridge simulators, including two 360-degree enclosed bridges, enhancing UK MoD training and autonomous craft development. BMT and Ocius collaborate on a fleet of autonomous Bluebottle vessels, using renewable energy and uncrewed technologies to deliver sustainable data solutions for environmental monitoring and offshore wind projects. The 35-metre StratCat35 CTV concept design for Strategic Marine offers more storage capacity and operational efficiency, equipped with a hybrid propulsion system to minimise greenhouse gas emissions. The company advanced decarbonisation with hydrogen-powered vessels for windfarm support and all-electric ferries designed with Greenline Marine.