Page 29: of Marine News Magazine (April 2016)

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but Almar dramatically broadened North River’s capabili- ties into complex workboats. Both factories remained open until the beginning of 2008 when Almar was absorbed into the North River Boats factory in Roseburg.”

Coming quickly up to speed on the complexities of the commercial and government boat world, North River then began building on the original Almar designs and expand- ing their portfolio diversity in terms of vessel sizes and types.

Today, the ? rm’s business split is about 40% commercial/ government boats and 60% recreational boats. The largest boat delivered to date is a Crew Transport vessel delivered to Trinidad & Tobago that – 52 feet LOA – equipped with twin diesel waterjets. Blocher adds, “This is soon to be sur- passed, as we are designing a 56.5’ x 17’ crew transport vessel that will be delivered by the end of the year.”

Diverse Portfolio

In addition to as many as eight different recreational models that are sold through a dealer network, North Riv- er is capable of building more than 40 commercial boats annually. Building everything from charter ? shing boats,

U.S. Coast Guard Sub Chapter T Passenger Inspected boats, Hydrographic Survey boats, Law Enforcement and

Patrol, Fire Rescue, Vessel Assist and for the U.S. Navy,

North River’s reach into almost every aspect of the work- boat market is deep.

But Blocher says that the variety and number of North

River’s customers is just as important. “Our customer base is as diverse as our boat portfolio. One of the things that set us apart from other commercial boat builders is our ability to ef? ciently design and build one-off products. Many of our competitors go after large government contracts that have multi-year IDIQ delivery orders. We have done a great job at going after the 1 to 10 boat contracts. We are able to deliver world-class products to a broader customer base.”

Buying a North River Boat can also include training and re-activation on commercial and government models. “We always conduct the re-activation on every vessel. This is to ensure proper delivery and set-up of the boat prior to it going into service. These are expensive boats and it is our responsibility to make sure the boat is functioning prop- erly before putting it into service,” said Blocher.

Although the recreational market remains North River’s largest in terms of revenue, Blocher says the ? rm remains committed to not having more than a small percentage of our business with any one customer. “Although the rec- reational market is a large part of our business, we have many dealers within that market. This gives us the ? ex- ibility to adjust depending on how each market segment www.marinelink.com

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