SYNOPSIS

Richard takes the audience through the design process from the initial concepts through to the moment the contract for the vessel is signed and construction begins.  This design process involves a number of stages and from an engineering perspective introduces a number of challenges and often conflicting requirements that need to be balanced to arrive at an optimum ship design for the intended service.  Finally, the stages in the ship’s construction through to delivery to the operator are briefly described and these highlight the investment needed by the shipbuilder to deliver these large and complex ships in a remarkably short time frame.


BIODATA OF SPEAKER

Richard Vie, the 112th President of The Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (IMarEST), is Vice President of Technical Development and Quality Assurance at Carnival Corporate Shipbuilding in Southampton which undertakes design development and project supervision for the cruise vessel building programme across the Carnival brands worldwide.  He is currently reviewing Carnival’s ship procurement strategy and providing technical leadership on a range of issues related to cruise vessel safety, reliability and protection of the environment.

Richard graduated from University of Surrey with a degree in Mechanical and Marine Engineering and began his career at sea as an engineer officer and then as a project engineer for P&O Three Quays Marine Services. He then joined V Ships, transferring to Sitmar Cruises’ new-build programme and remaining in this role after its acquisition by P&O. P&O’s cruise division was subsequently demerged to become P&O Princess Cruises and it was acquired by Carnival in 2003.

Richard represents IMarEST on the Engineering Council’s Quality Assurance Committee, is a Visiting Professor at the University of Southampton and a member of the Technical Committee of Lloyd’s Register of Shipping.  In 2014, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.