Page 24: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (January 2014)

24 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • JANUARY 2014

Nils Kristian

Berge

You replace Chris Potter, who obvi- ously had a long and notable career.

What are the top challenges and ad- vantages going forward? Chris did a great job over his six years as CE of guiding the company to the next level. He was at the helm while ASRY went through a major shift from being ship-centric to being a multi-service yard with a series of diversifi cations, most importantly the creation of ASRY Offshore Services.

He also oversaw a major facilities ex- pansion, and two other diversifi cations – ASRY Energy and ASRY Consul- tancy. As I take the company forward,

I have a strong foundation that gives

ASRY a robust launch pad for its next phase. The challenge going forward is going to be to unify all these new developments into a single cohesive proposition that simultaneously maxi- mizes all their potential, yet also uses our resources in the most effi cient way.

Specifi cally, where and how is ASRY investing today that is intended to pay dividend in 2014? 2014 will see the introduction of a series of new developments aimed to maintain our position as the go-to yard in the Arabian Gulf for safety and operational excellence. First, the com- pany is going to undergo a corporate re-structuring that will re-organize di- visions, departments and responsibili- ties so as to streamline effi ciency and improve cost-effectiveness. This will be rolled out in Q1 of 2014. Second, the company will adopt a new system of accountability which allows us to set targets and measure performance, through Key Performance Indicators.

These improvements will feed into a cycle of continuous improvement for

ASRY. We’ve ended 2013 with some very encouraging developments: the

Shipyard of the Year award from Lloyds

List, our 4000th ship repair, the 50th rig repair, our third straight year of revenue growth, and more.

By market or region, where do you see opportunity in 2014 and beyond? Saudi Arabia is defi nitely on our growth path. Up until now our

Saudi-based rig work has mostly been modest repairs, for example steelwork, leg repairs, pipework repairs, sand- blasting and painting. However, we have now opened a Representative of- fi ce in the Kingdom, so as to quickly and effi ciently respond to immediate

SHIP REPAIR & CONVERSION

Last last year ASRY appointed Nils Kris- tian Berge acting

Chief Executive to succeed Chris Potter.

As ASRY is a driving force in the key Mid- dle East ship repair and offshore markets,

MR spent some time with Berge for his insights on the ship repair market in gen- eral, as well as ASRY specifi c initiatives for the coming year.

By Greg Trauthwein

Five Minutes With ...

MR #1 (18-25).indd 24 1/7/2014 10:26:59 AM