Page 35: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (February 2019)

FERRY BUILDERS • Metal Shark

Metal Shark derives about 25% of its business from the ferry market, building ferries for multiple mar-kets across the country.

Photos courtesy Metal Shark based on actual usage and experience, fronts, hasn’t branched into ferry mar- operators are concerned about costs. At Global (now L3 ASV) to launch our and also leveraging the process improve- kets, although we have actively chased the same time, there is a perception issue Sharktech brand. Sharktech is a compa- ments aforded by serialization. Finally, multiple projects with them. To date, our in play. Operators, riders, and the gener- ny we created that specializes in the in- the logistics, parts ordering, and docu- close collaboration with Damen focuses al public are all increasingly concerned tegration and installation of autonomous mentation support of a serialized product mostly on government and military craft. about emissions as well. Regulation systems, whether in our new builds or in are all superior. Naming one relationship as the “most” certainly has lead the charge here, but retrofts. The results of the Sharktech de- fruitful would imply favoritism. Each it is important not to lose sight of grow- velopment were eye-opening to us. We

We see you have some active part- company has their own area of expertise ing public sentiment. To varying levels generated signifcant interest across mul- nerships – Incat Crowther, BMT, and specialty, and the right partner for we’re see increasing pressure for low- tiple sectors, including interest from pas-

Damen – to name a few. What is one particular situation may not be the emissions ferries from riders, cities and senger vessel operators. While we don’t the importance of partnerships in best one for another. All of that aside; communities, and operators. Simply put, expect to immediately see “autonomous modern vessel construction? in terms of dollars and in units, we have people care, and increasingly, they are ferries,” we predict that autonomous sys-

We have partnered with Incat and BMT built more Incat designs to date than any considering emissions when choosing tems will be installed for crew reduction, on multiple passenger ferry contracts other. their form of transportation and specifc and that passive systems will be devel- each. Working with frms that have the transport provider. We are seeing market oped and integrated to increase safety. most experience and knowledge con- What do you see as the primary forces where people are willing to pay As in the automotive sector, semi-auton- cerning these specialized vessels reduces tech drivers in the sector today? more for “green” solutions. omous technology will arrive before full risk for the shipbuilder as well as the cli- We see two technology drivers here. The The second area of technology that we autonomy. With Sharktech we are stay- ent. Our relationship with Damen, while frst is fuel consumption and emissions; see coming is autonomy. Recently we ing ahead of the curve, and looking for- very important to us and fruitful on other a two-pronged but related subject where worked on a joint project with ASV ward to the evolution of the technology.

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