Abance Engineering is a naval engineering company founded in Spain in 1994. With a team of 180 professionals, including engineers, designers and drafters, the company specializes in production-oriented detailed engineering for civil vessels, naval defense ships, submarines and offshore projects.
Brief description of the company and its activities.
Our mission is to provide additional technical capacity to shipyards, ensuring engineering quality and strict compliance with schedules, with full adaptation to their design tools and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) systems, and of course to their production processes. We focus on adapting and converting conceptual and functional ship designs into digital documentation ready for manufacturing and assembly.
We hold several quality and information security certifications that allow us to work with classified material within the defense sector.
What are the main engineering services provided by the company?
They are the following:
- 3D modeling of functional engineering and design integration across the different disciplines.
- Detailed engineering for shipbuilding programs (structure, outfitting, mechanical and electrical systems).
- Production-oriented engineering and workshop documentation.
- Engineering support during the construction, installation and testing phases.
- Integrated Logistics Support (ILS) engineering, including studies, development of technical manuals for maintenance and operation, and lifecycle support documentation for ship systems.
We act as a flexible and reliable technical partner for shipyards, reinforcing their internal teams during peak workloads or supporting large long-term strategic programs, always with specialized technical personnel with many years of experience in shipbuilding.
What is the scope of your services?
We offer a full range of detailed engineering services across all disciplines, as well as production engineering, including:
- Hull structural design and workshop drawings.
- Outfitting and accommodation design.
- Piping systems and mechanical arrangements.
- Electrical routing and integration.
- HVAC systems.
- 3D modeling and clash detection.
- Production documentation and “as-built” updates.
- ILS documentation and technical manuals.
We fully adapt to each shipyard’s digital ecosystem and standards, ensuring seamless integration with their tools and processes.
What is the current situation of the naval market and its outlook?
Given the current international geopolitical situation and the increase in defense budgets in Europe, there is a boom in naval military shipbuilding. As a result, there is greater pressure on delivery schedules due to increased demand and the need to accelerate construction timelines. Many shipyards are currently undergoing modernization and digitalization processes to help increase their production capacity.
At Abance, we see this situation as an opportunity to collaborate with international shipyards and even with engineering companies in those countries that may require experienced resources for the design of naval defense vessels.
On the other hand, there is a significant global need for the construction of oceanographic vessels, icebreakers, research vessels and support vessels in general. Likewise, we see great potential in the need for the construction of offshore electrical substations in Europe for the offshore wind sector, even if there may currently appear to be a temporary slowdown in this market segment.
Finally, we believe that in the medium to long term the cruise sector will require a significant renewal of its fleet, with innovative vessel designs capable of meeting passenger expectations while also complying with new requirements and trends related to green propulsion systems.
What is your commercial strategy in the medium and long term?
Our strategic priority is international growth, particularly in Europe, the United States and Canada. To achieve this, we continuously carry out commercial activities at different trade fairs and participate in global events in the naval sector. At the same time, within our engineering office we are promoting a process of diversification of design tools and adapting our services to the different digital environments and standards of potential clients. Likewise, we are strengthening alliances with established engineering offices in other countries, to which we contribute our experience by participating in programs with high technical complexity.
What are the most innovative products/services you market?
We specialize in naval defense vessel engineering through the services mentioned above, supporting programs for vessels such as frigates, patrol vessels, corvettes, combat supply ships, submarines and offshore platforms. We have also participated in numerous high value-added civil vessel projects such as ferries, icebreakers, dredgers or support vessels.
The reality is that we do not have our own proprietary product, as we provide engineering services tailored to the needs of each client. However, Abance holds a share in the company Surcontrol, which specializes in industrial robotics, control systems and digitalization, with whom we collaborate closely in a complementary way on some projects. In this case, they do have their own products, or integrate their technological solutions into third-party products, for example for crane operations, ship docking procedures in dry dock, plate cutting solutions or welding solutions, all applicable to the shipbuilding sector.
What are your forecasts and challenges for 2026?
For 2026 our priority is to strictly fulfil our current contracts, while at the same time moving forward with other very important projects at a strategic and commercial level that will allow us to consolidate our international presence.
To achieve this, we plan to continue with sustained growth of our workforce through internal training programs that will strengthen our current capabilities and allow us to address the new challenges that are expected to arise in the coming years both in the defense sector and in civil vessels and offshore wind.
On the other hand, following an internal assessment and analysis of the possible implementation of artificial intelligence within our company, we plan to move forward in this area with the objective of optimizing and automating common working procedures within our regular engineering activities, achieving the highest possible level of digitalization of our services.
