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Who are ShipConstructor´s main com- petitors in Brazil?In the shipbuilding market our main com- petitors are FORAN/SENER, AVEVA Marine and Intergraph SmartMarine. How do you view the next five-year busi- ness scenario for ship design in Brazil? We see one of the main challenges will be training local resources to useCAD/CAM software effectively, which is why we are so bullish regarding Ship- Constructor as it easily outperforms rival products in ease of use and training/setuptime.What are the current world market trends in CAD based ship design? Emerging market shipyards such as Brazil and India are looking forCAD/CAM software that out-of-the box is easier to implement, train and main-tain. In comparison with that point ofview we see some large Korean yards having customized so much of their orig- inal commercial software that they are stuck, facing huge migration costs to adopt newer technology from the same vendor. China is a place where everyone is fighting to get some significant market share and still preserve their IP. Europe and the US are pretty much saturatedmarkets. Production line automation is considered an advantage by most major shipbuilders. How does ShipConstructor software in- teract with the automation hardware? ShipConstructor software offers excellent production automation integration with automated nesting as well as full supportfor cutting machines (cutting, marking,bevel), generating native CNC code, as well as integration with pipe bending ma- chines. One of the key elements of the software is the intelligent association be- tween production output and the 3Dmodel, so that, for example, if a given structural part is modified, an associated nest drawing will be notified and updated as well. Which are the main shipyards using the ShipConstructor design software in Brazil?Our main clients are: Estaleiro Atlântico Sul (Brazil?s largest shipyard), Estaleiro INACE, ETP-ENG, Consunav and Kro- mav Engenharia. Is ShipConstructor also present in other shipbuilding segments such as cruise ships, yachts and military craft? Do you believe it can enter these market segments in Brazil?Estaleiro INACE is already using Ship- Constructor on yachts and patrol boatsfor the Brazilian Navy. We have also been approached by other Brazilian yardswhich have shown interest in using the software for future Brazilian Navy proj- ects. An important point to note is that ShipConstructor currently dominates theUS Navy shipbuilding program, with over 80% of current projects using the software as the CAD/CAM tool of choice.Do you have an idea of how many ships built in Brazil were designed using the ShipConstructor software recently? ShipConstructor is being used at EAS forthe construction of 10 Suezmax tankers, 5 Aframax tankers as well as the P-55 semi-sub hull platform. At Inace shipyard it has been used on fast-supply boats, navy patrol boats and commercial yachts. At ETP-ENG it is being used for PSVs(Ulstein based design).It is also worth mentioning that several yards in Brazil such as the Detroit ship-yard have used project detailing services from Guido Perla (PSVs) and RobertAllan (Tugs), all executed in ShipCon- structor CAD/CAM software. What kind of support do you or ShipCon- structor offer to the companies that usethe software? We offer local training and technical sup- port. ShipConstructor Software Inc. is recognized by the industry as offering benchmark first-class support. What is the expected growth for the Ship- Constructor software sales in Brazil? In two years we overtook the installed base of our main competitor who hadbeen operating in Brazil for over 10 years. We expect to double our installed base in the next two years. How would you position ShipConstructor in the world ship design software market? It is achieving significant success in emerging markets such as Brazil and dominates the US Navy market which gives it a solid revenue base, independent of global crisis , double-dip recession etc.for future growth. What are your views on the growth of Brazilian shipbuilding and how does that affect your product? We are very pleased to be actively taking part in the revival of the Brazilian ship- building industry. My partner and father Coaracy da Silva was actively involved in the first cycle of the Brazilian Shipbuild- ing industry 60s-80s, when Brazilachieved international recognition as one of the leading shipbuilding nations. See- ing his son directly involved in this sec- ond cycle has been extremely gratifying from his perspective. ShipConstructor has a very strong support structure in Brazil and I believe this will be very im- portant to the Brazilian shipbuilding in- dustry. As a result of the growth of Brazilian shipbuilding industry and the efficiency and quality of our product we are confident we will double our installed base in Brazil within the next two years. What would you consider the current market challenges Brazilian shipbuilding is facing? In which way can the ShipCon-structor software help to overcome these challenges?Training local resources is the key chok- ing point. As I mentioned before we are actively working with state and federal institutions to offer training programs for both technical colleges and universities. We are confident local shipyards will in- creasingly see the benefit of using the most effective and easy to use CAD/CAM software as being a key fac- tor for their bottom line, especially whencompared to overly complex software that comes packaged with heavy consult- ing service/customization requirements.A recent story illustrates this point: wewere talking to a Brazilian shipyard owner who mentioned that one of our competitors had boasted that he had five consultants working full-time imple- menting their software for a specific de- partment of a large Oil & Gas Owner/Operator client. He said helaughed and replied??if I need five peo- ple just to implement your software it is definitively not the software that I want to buy.? FEATURE MARINE DESIGN 44Maritime Reporter & Engineering News MR Oct.11 # 6 (42-49):MR Template 10/5/2011 1:00 PM Page 44