Independent maritime consultancy · Oslo, Norway

From first sketch
to sea trial.

Knarresmed is Jørgen Beyer Strømquist, a naval architect with fifteen years in maritime, offshore and energy. I develop products, run projects and work on green technology across vessels, offshore assets and energy projects, from concept and structural analysis through class approval and into operation. Currently taking on advisory, project leadership and interim executive work.

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15+
Years in maritime and offshore, from the R&D bench to the boardroom
C-level
Roles held down to hands-on engineer, in companies from start-up to listed
MSc
Naval Architecture and Lightweight Structures, KTH Stockholm
PRINCE2
Certified project manager, with class approval and owner's engineering experience

Capabilities

Four areas of work

Maritime projects rarely fail on the physics. More often it is the gaps: between the concept and the production drawing, the vendor and the yard, the yard and class, the promised saving and the measured one. That is where I tend to be useful, having worked on both sides of most of them.

Project and programme delivery

Ownership of complex maritime projects end to end, whatever the type. Newbuild supervision, conversion, retrofit, R&D programmes and multi-vessel rollouts. Scope, budget, schedule and class approval held in one place, with the owner's interest protected throughout.

  • Newbuild, conversion and retrofit scopes
  • Multi-vessel and fleet-wide programmes
  • Class approval and regulatory compliance
  • Shipyard tendering and negotiation
  • Owner's engineering and site representation
  • Commissioning, sea trials and handover

Product development

Taking a maritime or industrial product from idea to something you can actually build, certify and sell. Concept and CAD, structural analysis, prototyping and tooling, full-scale and destructive testing, then the unglamorous work of getting it into production.

  • Concept development and feasibility
  • CAD modelling and general arrangement
  • FEA and lightweight structural design
  • Prototyping, mould and tooling development
  • Tank, wind tunnel and destructive testing
  • Production setup and supplier qualification

Green technology

Independent assessment and adoption of decarbonisation technology, from first screening to fleet rollout. I have worked on both sides, developing the technology and evaluating it as a buyer.

  • Technology screening and business cases
  • Wind-assisted propulsion and air lubrication
  • Exhaust gas cleaning and shaft generators
  • LNG, carbon capture and fuel pathways
  • Grant writing and public funding
  • Vendor due diligence and second opinions

Vessel performance

Turning claimed savings into measured savings. Performance prediction, sea trial design, verification of vendor guarantees, and the modelling that tells you which vessel in the fleet to convert first and which to leave alone.

  • Aero and hydrodynamic performance modelling
  • Savings verification against guarantees
  • Sea trial specification and analysis
  • Fleet screening and prioritisation
  • In-house analytical tool development
  • Regulatory performance compliance

How I engage

Four ways to bring me in

Some companies need a director for six months rather than a permanent hire. Others need someone to hold a scope without restructuring around it. I take whichever role the work requires, large or small.

Interim executive

CTO, COO or commercial director on a fixed term. Full accountability, no permanent headcount, a defined exit.

Project director

Ownership of a project or programme from sanction through delivery, with budget, schedule and class approval in one pair of hands.

Owner's engineer

Your representative at the yard and in front of the vendor. Technical scrutiny, variation control and protection of the specification.

Expert advisor

Focused input for boards, funds and management teams. Technology due diligence, second opinions and go or no-go calls.

References

Where the work was done

Shipowners, technology developers, yards and class societies. Select any of them to read what I was responsible for.

bound4blue

Key Account Director, Vessel Project Director

Led end to end delivery of eSAIL wind propulsion projects, coordinating engineering, procurement and installation across multiple vessels, and served as the primary point of contact for shipowner clients throughout execution. Owned the full commercial relationship for key accounts, from project initiation through vessel end of life, working with shipowners to identify retrofit opportunities and develop tailored wind propulsion solutions.

Klaveness Combination Carriers

Project Manager

Managed the full retrofit scope for wind-assisted propulsion, air lubrication systems and shaft generators across the combination carrier fleet, targeting measurable reductions in frictional resistance and fuel consumption. The work spanned classification society approvals, shipyard interfaces and owner’s engineering across several concurrent vessel projects. Also included site management in China. In addition, I analysed vessel performance data to identify savings attributed to air lubrication.

Höegh Evi

Engineering Manager

Managed various engineering scope for FSRU modification work, ensuring technical compliance, site management and delivery to schedule.

DNV

Intern Naval Architect

I reviewed and updated DNV’s leisure boat certification requirements in relation to the RCD European Directive framework. Developed a usable tool to check compliance.

Pascal Technologies

Technical Lead

Led R&D and applied development of air lubrication systems aimed at reducing hull friction and fuel consumption on commercial vessels, covering system evaluation and extensive vessel performance analysis.

Clean Marine

Project Manager

Responsible for the delivery, integration design, installation and class approval of exhaust gas cleaning systems across multiple vessels, bringing them into compliance with the IMO 2020 sulphur regulations. I managed a portfolio of shipowner clients simultaneously, and every project achieved class approval on schedule.

TECO Solutions

Project Manager

Managed complex retrofit projects across the maritime industry with full responsibility for schedule, budget and technical delivery, interfacing with shipowners, classification societies and shipyards to keep execution moving.

Fram Marine

Project Leader

Led multidisciplinary project teams delivering green technology solutions to the maritime sector. During this period I also held contract roles as Technical Lead Consultant at Pascal Technologies and Project Manager at Klaveness Combination Carriers. Through Fram Green Technology I supported business development for carbon capture and storage solutions targeting the maritime and offshore sectors.

TwoPointZero

Chief Technology Officer

Led technical development, structural analysis and sea trial testing of a novel adaptive wing concept for wind-assisted vessel propulsion, carrying C-level accountability for the technology in an early stage company.

Compocean

Project and R&D Engineer, and Head of Production

Drove the full product development lifecycle for large-scale composite GRP structures: concept, CAD modelling, prototype and mould building, FEA structural analysis and destructive testing. I built in-house analytical tools from scratch, ran stability and installation analysis, managed trawling tank testing of subsea protection covers, and project managed overseas production facilities in Malaysia.

Cervino Consulting

Maritime Consultant

As Head Naval Architect on the Swedish Steel Yachts P-16 patrol craft, launched in May 2017, I was responsible for stability, resistance and power estimation, weight estimation, procurement and general arrangement design. Invited as keynote speaker at the TEKNA and Redningsselskapet annual Fast Ferry Convention. Also worked at Scandinavian Airlines covering structural damage validation and quality assurance of internal processes.

Hydrolift

Naval Architect

Masters thesis work. Conceptual design of a high-speed superyacht tender with twin steps, covering hull form analysis and structural design, and producing an original performance prediction model for stepped-hull vessels.

The name

Knarresmed
Old Norwegian · noun

Shipwright. Literally the smith of the knarr, the ocean-going cargo ship that carried Norse trade across the North Atlantic. Not the person who drew the vessel and not the person who sailed it, but the one who built it and made it fit to go to sea.

That is still the work. Somebody has to stand between the idea and the finished article, and be answerable for the difference.

Portrait of Jørgen Beyer Strømquist

Jørgen Beyer Strømquist, MSc
Founder, Knarresmed AS

About

Equally comfortable in deep sea, as in deep thought.

I am a naval architect by training and a project person by temperament. Fifteen years across maritime and offshore have taken me through composite structures, novel adaptive wing design, air lubrication, exhaust gas cleaning, onboard power management, LNG systems and wind-assisted propulsion, and through the full lifecycle of each: concept and feasibility, engineering design, prototype and test, classification approval, installation and the long client relationship that follows.

The pattern I keep seeing is this. A good idea gets sold on a number and bought on a business case, then meets a real ship, a busy yard, a production tolerance and a class society with questions. Projects slip in that gap. I have spent most of my career closing it, first as an engineer building and testing the hardware, developing the business cases, then as a project manager delivering it, as a director carrying commercial responsibility for the outcome, and a third party reviewer of claims.

Before the maritime industry I sailed for the Norwegian national team in the 49er class and raced professionally aboard an ORMA 60 ocean trimaran. That is not a line of trivia. Performance under wind is something I understand from the tiller as well as from the CFD. 19 World Championships in various classes later, I’m now only competing against myself with wingfoiling.

Education
MSc Naval Architecture & Lightweight Structures, KTH
BEng Yacht & Powercraft Design, Solent University
Certification
PRINCE2 Certified Project Manager
Working languages
English, Norwegian
Based in
Oslo, Norway
Working internationally
Skier mid-air above a Norwegian mountain plateau

Off the clock

Products I had to sell myself

Co-founder of JBS Sport from 2013 to 2024, importing and distributing high-end bikes and ski equipment alongside a full-time engineering career. Supplier negotiation, logistics, retail partnerships, servicing, repairs, and building of custom bikes, and eleven years of learning what it actually costs to put a physical product in front of a market that already has one.

The same instinct sits behind the technical work. I am not satisfied by a specification that closes on paper. I want to know how the thing behaves when somebody uses it hard, in bad conditions, without reading the manual.

Jørgen wingfoiling, airborne above the water on a hydrofoil

Off the clock

Aero and hydro, on the body

Wingfoiling is the sport I am currently obsessed with. It is the purest way I know to feel aerodynamics and hydrodynamics acting on your own body, and to put that feel to use for nothing more than fun.

I am obsessed enough that I built a physics-based program to optimise and analyse gear choice for given wind and water conditions.

Check out Wingfoil Wizardry →

Contact

Tell me what is stuck

A product that will not reach production, a project without an owner, a technology decision with no clear answer. Send a short note describing the problem and I will tell you honestly whether I am the right person for it.

jorgen@knarresmed.com +47 957 90 218 LinkedIn

Call directly if that is easier. I am in Oslo, CET. Full CV available on request.