Page 14: of Marine News Magazine (August 2024)

13 15

Insights workforce as well as some of the top candidates that are but the overall bene? t is clear. looking to write their own ticket for their future. I’m not MF: Adoption of automation. From simply opening and necessarily talking speci? cally about remote work, but the closing valves from a computer screen, to receiving real-time ? exibility that allows them to draw their own work-life support and monitoring from equipment manufacturers balance. If people can create a system where that has the around the world, these advancements have changed ma- best chance of success, then I think ? rms have the oppor- rine operations for the better. Soon the adoption of digital tunity to attract top tier talent. twins will allow us to simulate propulsion systems well be-

I think the marine market for naval architects, marine fore construction begins. We will have the opportunity to engineers and electrical engineers has always been fairly troubleshoot designs and greatly reduce the amount of com- small. The competition for that market is fairly tight. So, missioning time required after construction is complete.

we’re all looking at the same resources to ? t not only the RE: Mooring systems roles have had the greatest impact on hard skills, but then ? nd those softer skills that we need, the industries that I’ve been involved with. Mooring systems as we were talking about earlier, it’s a more well-rounded have come a long way since I entered the industry in the discipline that you’re looking for. Somebody that has that late ‘80s, early ‘90s. You have magnetic systems, suction sys- ability to pick up the phone and call a manufacturer or have tems, all of these quick, ef? cient and secure ways of mooring a conversation with a client. That is really, really important. a ship, ferry or barge. You signi? cantly reduce your tie-up

The number of available employees is not shrinking neces- time and increase the amount of time that you can spend sarily, but rather the speci? city of what we’re looking for is moving freight, passengers, etc. from the platform to the narrowing. And on top of that, you have the market that shore or vice versa. That’s changed the way operators not emerged post-Covid, where people looking for work really only design their boats, but think about their operation, and had the luxury of many options. The job markets were sim- has really changed the face of looking at turnaround time ply in a condition to favor the employee, and that’s created as a signi? cant cost element to their operation. Before these some need for innovative business models to attract talent. systems were created, tying up a ship really was a formula that was kind of predictable and there wasn’t much magic to

What do you see as the number one technol- it. Everybody knew what this static way of thinking was, and ogy or innovation over the course of your ca- advanced mooring systems changed all that.

reer that has most impacted commercial ma- A second element is controls. Station keeping and dy- rine operations? namic positioning coming from the oil and gas industry

WC: From a design perspective, I started my career at the has created a part of the market that has advanced controls tail end of the transition to CAD and I have watched the and propulsion systems. There’s been a resurgence of the comparatively slow transition to an integrated 3D model- cycloidal drive systems. Z-drive systems have really come ing environment. I had expected 3D modeling to move into a stronger position, propulsion pods as well, not only earlier into the design cycle much more rapidly, but until with fuel economy, but matching the desired ef? ciency recently, the complexity of the systems limited their util- with the speci? c maneuverability that is required of the ity in the dynamic and rapidly changing environment of platform that you’re talking about. Those advances have early-stage concept design, where prototype designs are really changed the face of the industry and created new the norm. We have relied on our own in-house developed dynamics for the owners to consider.

tools, which we affectionately call 2 ½ D to bridge the gap.

For marine operations, the greatest impact has come Where do you see greatest opportunities in the from electri? cation and the integration of electronics. U.S. market currently? What is your ? rm doing

Greater control, more data collection, better communi- to capitalize?

cation, automation, better sensors for predictive mainte- RE: I think the greatest opportunity is the modernization of nance have all resulted from this transition. These have the U.S. ? eet. When you look around at the average age of also brought new challenges and the need for increased river tugs, near coastal workboats or even ferries—although skills and knowledge from both designers and operators, we have had a lot of money pumped into the ferry market in 14 | MN August 2024