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relatively inefÞ cient power plants. This tonnage will need to be replaced over the next 5-10 years.Ó Clearly, Larson, like other U.S. blue water builders, remains bullish on the markets for the near term. Despite all the good news, however, a key ÔknockÕ on U.S. yards has always been that they cannot compete with foreign builders in terms of efÞ ciency, costs and a raft of other met- rics. LarsonÕs boss, Fred Harris, on the other hand, has always been a big believer in emulating the Korean art of the series build technique. Larson shares his enthusiasm. ÒOver the past seven years, NASSCO has learned a lot from our partnership with the expert shipbuilders at DSME and DSEC. As a re- sult weÕve made several facility improvements, including a new blast and paint facility, usage of transporters and updated ground outÞ tting process lanes. WeÕve seen a positive impact to both our commercial and government shipbuilding pro- grams.Ó He continues, ÒA key metric we follow is completing the design prior to starting construction. This becomes more important when building a series of ships. A shipyard must get the lead ship right or the impact of change will permeate nega- tively throughout the entire class of vessels. Changes made once construction has started impacts the design and directly affects the supply chain, schedules and quality.Ó Larson, without neglecting his other responsibilities, clearly has a passion for the TOTE ship projects. ThatÕs only natural, especially considering his afÞ nity for LNG and the intended propulsion of this new class of vessel. He explained, ÒThe TOTE ships are 764-foot-long, 3,100 TEU LNG-powered container- MARPRO PROFILE NASSCO is arguably one the the nation?s more progressive shipyards, with a healthy Navy and Commerical orderbook, including pioneering work in building state-of-the-art LNG-powered tonnage. 22 | Maritime Professional | 4Q 2013MP #4 18-33.indd 22MP #4 18-33.indd 2212/11/2013 1:05:09 PM12/11/2013 1:05:09 PM