Page 100: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (August 2016)

TECHNOLOGY: MARINE ELECTRONICS

Candid Conversation

Frank

Coles

CEO, Transas

THESIS is …

A globally-connected ecosystem for the shipping indus-

Frank Coles, Transas’ candid and visionary leader, dis- try. It is a platform for the shipping industry, a way of cre- cusses how the proliferation of information is driving “ everything onboard commercial ships.

ating maximum integration with the stakeholders in the shipping industry for safety operations and navigation.

By Greg Trauthwein

You joined Transas to take the top me to bring all of the pieces together.” future growth and success. But change sion and then you’ve got a navigation di- ” spot a little less than a year ago. What So you come to Transas, you step into of this magnitude takes time. When you vision and then you’ve got a shore-based drew you to this job? What drew you the top spot; what are the opportuni- want to turn a supertanker, you don’t just division. They operate independently. to Transas? ties you saw? What are the challenges? turn the wheel and the tanker turns – it The Simulator guys build a simulator, I was sitting in the Caymans, I’d The opportunity is endless, as takes time to move the ship. they sell it to a school, they sell content been sitting there for nine months doing there’s a lot of smart and enthusiastic to the school. The Navigation guys sell a lot of diving and just having some time people here. The opportunity is to feed Okay. That leads into my next ques- an ECDIS, and there’s no link. Shore- off for the ? rst time in my life. And, I off the clever technology and the clever tion: Which way are you turning the based guys go out and they build a port have a friend who works at Transas, who entrepreneurs in-house. The opportunity ship? What are your near-term and vessel service, or they build a coastal has been at Transas since 1997… George is to work with an engineering team that long-term vision for the company? vessel service – there’s no link. In line

Toma. I was with George at Sperry (Ma- is leading edge, not a team that is just The ? rst way is that Transas has with the thesis, and in line with the rine) when he left, and I was one of the building boxes. been largely driven by four business di- whole idea of creating global connectiv- people he talked to about leaving Sperry visions. We started a process of moving ity and a less fragmented marketplace, I to go to Transas. So when I got the call, And what about the challenges? it into a single functional organization so see in our vision in taking the company, for me, it was a rounding off of my ca- The challenges are more boring sim- that our divisions will go away, becom- that ship, that ECDIS (which is an infor- reer. I’d gone to sea when there were sex- ply because it’s the same with any new ing one Transas. mation system), and connecting it with tants and no GPS. I’d gone to sea when company, or same with any company ac- So the responsibility becomes a the of? ce a lot more. There’s going to be there were no satellite communications. tually. Transas is 25 years old, so it’s still global picture rather than in four dif- a more interplay of the services.

And then I was here in the middle of the relatively young, but it’s also a company ferent little groups. In this way we can It’s about sharing information seam- maritime communications evolution. I that’s grown up quite fast. This usually be one company across the globe, and lessly across the value chain and with had gone as far as I could in maritime means that you get left behind in some it also strategically ? ts with where we partners (ship traf? c control and coastal communications. So when the opportu- of the usual operational things that need want to take the products and where we surveillance, for example). There’s no nity came with Transas, with its technol- to be improved. But for the most part want to take the market, and where we reason why training programs can’t go ogy – particularly on the navigation side everyone’s very open to the change and see the market going. Let me explain. backwards and forwards between the – I thought, “This is an opportunity for very open to positioning the business for Right now, you’ve got a simulation divi- ship and the simulation organization, 100 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • AUGUST 2016

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