Cost pressure in shipbuilding has substantially intensified over the past few years. As up to 90% of the total costs are fixed at the start of production, it is obvious that cost optimization approaches should be considered in design and engineering. However, this is complicated by the fact that in these early phases cost information is insufficient. Therefore, the ship building process requires special cost management procedures. Against this background, the book describes the methods, processes and systems necessary for efficiently planning, analysing and controlling a ship"s costs in all building phases. A main focus is on the software system "costfact". This system was developed especially for cost management in the maritime industry. costfact supports cost planning in the early design and engineering stages, cost analysis of already concluded projects and life cycle costing, including the in-service phase. The development of costfact is based on knowledge, which the authors gained by more then 10 years experience in industrial cost management respectively at Flensburger Schiffbau shipyard in leading positions and with responsibility for cost estimation and budgetary control. The book is intentionally very practice-oriented and addresses specialists confronted with the practical challenges of cost management in everyday business.