Page 54: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (May 2018)

SHIPBUILDING: SHIP REPAIR

Skentelbery

Drives Grand

Bahama Shipyard

We visited Grand Bahama Shipyard CEO Dave Skentelbery, who updates us on his shipyard and the cruise shipping industry.

BY GREG TRAUTHWEIN

How do you see the market today? the true transformational changes?

In terms of the cruise ship market, it is very I think the maritime industry at this moment healthy. As a business, we are growing the suffers from a lack of training in the 1980s amount of work we do on each of those and 1990s. And today there’s not enough projects. We’re doing more complex scopes people; there is a gap in the talent.

of work. I think we’re truly demonstrating our The equipment in the shipyards hasn’t capability as a project management company changed greatly. We’re still taking ships out to the cruise lines. of the water, scraping their bottoms, blasting them, painting them, and putting them back

How do you evolve to more complex jobs? in. It’s not rocket science. But I have seen,

It’s investment in people and facilities. It is and certainly in this cruise industry, more our ability to be able to project manage larger attention to becoming a project-led industry scopes of work where we have the capability than a production-led industry. I think project to do, you know, a wide range of shipyard management needs to become the core of

Dave Skentelbery, CEO, work. We have the capability to take on more your company.

Grand Bahama Shipyard complex scopes of work.

Grand Bahama Shipyard

Why is that?

So how, speci? cally, are you investing? In theory, you could subcontract out every bit

We have a very clear investment plan where of work, but somebody’s got to be a project we are looking every year to improve the ca- manager. So project management, in my pability of the facility. As with any shipyard, opinion, should be the core competency – cer- that means improving workshops, improving tainly of a shipyard like the Grand Bahamas cranes, and improving the ability to carry out where we’re doing larger and more complex the logistics that are required for cruise ship projects. Don’t get me wrong, production is re? t. In terms of the people, we’re invest- extremely important. But the project manage- ing in both training and developing existing ment, the planning, the risk management, the people, and recruiting new talent. commercial management, has all got to be in place for the production management to do

How long have you been in marine? the right thing.

I’ve been in the marine business for 44 years.

I went to sea at 16, I was a navigating of? cer So what is your biggest challenge today apprentice, and served a short time as ship’s and how are you addressing it?

master and then came ashore, working for a I’ve got a really good team around me; expe- company that operated telecom cable layers. rienced and capable of taking the company

I was operations director, running its busi- forward. The challenges are getting the cruise ness in China and in Singapore. In 2000, I companies con? dent that we can do bigger, went for a career change and ended up in more complex scopes of work, safely, envi- ship repair, ? rst with Cammell Laird and then ronmentally friendly and in a timely manner. the A&P group in the UK. In 2010, I left the

A&P Group when we sold our shareholding, Is there a recent project that you think best and I went into business on my own, which exempli? es this?

took me to India where I helped develop a Carnival Elation, from September 2017. new yard. After developing the yard I ran it for two years. Two years ago I came to Grand Nice, that was our January 2018 cover.

Bahama Shipyard as CCO, and I’ve been act- That was the biggest one we’ve ever done. ing CEO since June 2017. And its success was the planning, as well as the cooperation between the client, ourselves

Looking at the industry you joined at the and all the subcontractors. But it was the

Carnival Elation age of 16 and the industry today, what are planning that made it a success.

at Grand Bahamas Shipyard

Grand Bahama Shipyard 54 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • MAY 2018

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