Interviews

“There we were, three of us, trying to break up this old fuel tank with a sledgehammer. We even took a forklift to it,” said Bruno Tideman, of Tideman boats. “I thought,…

According to Chris Loizou of Orolia, the France-headquartered parent of the McMurdo brand, the central issue is no longer a lack of trust in technology: times have changed so much that the…

“In the beginning, installing permanent ‘walk-to-work’ access on a vessel was a very expensive gamble,” said Marcel Roelofs, CEO and founder of Chevalier Floatels

“Back in wind’s early days we’d go merrily putting the jackup’s feet down with just a few borehole samples taken here and there to tell us what we were standing on -…

“Sometimes I miss the physical work of refitting vessels,” Marielle Gehlert of German vessel managers and owners Ahrenkiel Steamship Company told Maritime Journal. At least that was relatively straightforward.

Human nature is at least part of the reason workboat regulations will never be perfect, explained Kerrie Forster: “If you change the goalposts someone will make something that will only just fit…

While modern technology can help you make some “very clever decisions”, said Dutch Work Boats MD and founder Rob Voskuil, it is definitely a mixed blessing.

Damen Shipyards Group opened its doors recently welcoming a cross-section of customers and industry partners to a one-day event showcasing a selection of vessels from its varied workboat catalogue.

While Jeffrey, Lord Mountevans, described the initial City of London reaction to Brexit as “shock”, as Lord Mayor he was on the spot to evaluate the fallout.

“In 13 years at Baltic Workboats, I’ve performed just about every role in the company” says the 42-year-old in the airy boardroom of the Saaremaa, Estonia-based manufacturer.

Life as a workboat captain “can be really varied” Ian Greenwood told MJ. However, this turns out to be something of an understatement.

It was, said Bart van der Helst of Belgian marine transmission specialist Esco Power “an easy transition” from aircraft to the marine industry, “the main difference being that I am usually in…

Really innovative projects still give Naval Architect Ed Dudson of BMT Nigel Gee “one or two moments” of apprehension: “At launch you wonder if the yard has built the vessel to sit…

It’s been said that the Skaala family “drank lifeboat production along with their milk”; the father starting the original Harding factory in Norway with the oldest son Geir driving Norsafe to multinational…

Chris Livett, of Thames vessel operators Livetts, puts his business and financial survival down to being “part marine entrepreneur, part Thames chameleon”, but there’s also a good streak of humanitarian in there…

“You can’t stay still in this kind of market,” said Ewoud Visser of DUC Marine, the Netherlands-headquartered offshore services group. “You have to make a decision about whether to scale up and…

“I thought I’d understood vessel design during my university courses,” said Grzegorz Mazerski of Finish ship designers Deltamarin, “but the three years I spent in a Polish yard after college were the…

Being one of the first can be challenging. But the idea is to make sure that you are not also one of the last, Dennis Doerffel, founder of battery specialist REAP Systems,…

Herman Groot Beumer of Netherlands-based motion compensated access systems specialist Barge Master, is sure “that the future of offshore construction will be ship-shaped”. However, there are a few hurdles to overcome first.

“Back in the mid-90s, after the wall came down, West German companies were trying to sell into the former East Germany,” said Pieter Kroezen of Netherlands-based InandAut, but sometimes without as much…