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Our heritage: key milestones, landmark achievements, and a legacy of excellence

40 years of maritime engineering excellence and innovation

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Our heritage

With a proud heritage of maritime excellence, BMT has been at the forefront of scientific, engineering and technological innovation for forty years.

From our origins as a trusted technical advisor embedded in the British Government, to our position today as a global leader in maritime design, advice, support and consulting, our journey, and our reason for being, is centred on solving complex, real-world problems.

Today, we honour our heritage by embracing bold ideas and leveraging our extensive knowledge and expertise to deliver exceptional outcomes that address the needs of our customers, partners, stakeholders and wider society. While we celebrate our past, our eyes remain firmly on the future—committed to shaping a better, more sustainable world.

Discover just some of the milestones that have helped shape our journey.

Timeline

1987
Informing and reforming safety regulations

In 1987, the roll-on/roll-off ferry ‘Herald of Free Enterprise’ capsized, killing 193 passengers and crew. Recreating the incident with models tested in the company’s test tanks, we were appointed to advise the UK's Department of Transport, ultimately resulting in reformed regulations for the safe operation of this type of vessel.

The growing respect for our independent deep and broad technical expertise led to us becoming an established expert witness, investigating the Piper Alpha platform disaster the following year and the Sea Empress disaster. We led the 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.

Herald of Free Enterprise

Piper Alpha

MS Estonia

Athos 1

Diamond Princess

MS Napoli

1988 - 1990
Expanding internationally

The 1990’s saw rapid expansion of the BMT portfolio. From the United States to Australia, we adapted to regional needs and demands, while staying true to our maritime and technical core. New offices were opened in The Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, the USA, Singapore and Australia.

We supported iconic projects in Asia, helping people and cities around the world reshape and improve their environments.

Hong Kong owes its new Star Ferry pier to BMT.  With a fleet of twelve ferries, two routes operate across the harbour, carrying over 70,000 passengers per day, or 26 million per year.

We designed the pontoons for Hong Kong airport’s Skypier ferry terminal. The terminal serves nine ports, connecting the region to over 200 destinations worldwide.

A landmark gateway to Hong Kong, Stonecutters Bridge is the world’s fourth longest spanning cable-stayed bridge.  The aerodynamics of the bridge were tested in our wind tunnels.

1994 - 1995
Our portfolio grows

As our reputation grew, so did our projects. We designed a new dockyard for the Royal Thai Navy and contributed to the engineering system design of the UK's Vanguard-class submarines.

In 1995, we were awarded a $40 million contract to modernise the fleet of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Our work supported NOAA’s mission by enhancing their ability to monitor global weather and climate, and providing the tools needed to better protect the world’s natural resources. Through our collaboration, we helped strengthen NOAA’s efforts to work with partners worldwide in safeguarding the planet.

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NOAA 1
NOAA 2

2001
Playing a key role in our national defence

As we entered a new millennium, we played a pivotal role in the development of the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers in the UK, providing vital expertise in design and engineering.

From optimising hull designs to managing project risks, our contributions helped shape these monumental ships.

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2009
Supporting energy transition, energy security, and secure navigation

By 2009, we 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.

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2013 - 2018
Navigating new frontiers

Our expertise further expanded, consulting on water pollution, ports, logistics, and aquaculture. We collaborated with the University of Queensland to help save the Great Barrier Reef, and our Brisbane River Flood Study became the industry standard.

The four 200m next-generation Tide Class tankers, designed by BMT, part of the Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability (MARS) project for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RAF) are delivered in 2015.

Partnering with QinetiQ and Atkins, we formed Aurora, the UK MoD's Engineering Delivery Partner.

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2020
Maritime autonomy and digital defence

We led the charge in addressing the challenges of uncrewed and autonomous vessels. 

We also broadened our skills as a key supplier into the UK’s Defence Digital organisation.

Investment in research and development, and a commitment to innovation, have remained fundamental to us. The launch of our next generation Pentamaran hull form, an unmanned surface vessel designed for military or commercial applications; tests have proven it offers significant reductions in drag compared to conventional hull forms.

BMT and ASV Global led a £1.2 million Innovate UK-funded project to enhance safe autonomous navigation at sea using deep learning machine vision systems, combining real-world and simulated data for improved situational awareness.

The SIMVEE project  advances ASV Global's autonomous collision avoidance capabilities, leveraging BMT’s REMBRANDT simulator to train algorithms that detect and classify objects in extreme and congested marine environments.

2022
Leading the way in environmental sustainability and climate resilience

We led critical environmental initiatives, from blue carbon accounting to climate risk mitigation in the Asia-Pacific region.

Our work on microgrids for remote communities in Canada further showcased our commitment to sustainability, reducing diesel reliance and improving energy resilience.

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