Page 36: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (February 2023)

INTERVIEW JENS GROTH, CEO, CHRIS-MARINE “If you maintain your engine well, you get the best running engine and the best running engine has the least emissions.” – Jens Groth, CEO, Chris-Marine control of speed and power date, and there is no need to mod- lenge is signi? cant as “we are a traditional company engaged in a ify the machinery. The solution will help customers to comply conservative market. We are not Google or Ikea or Mercedes. We with the EEXI regulations and also help them monitor and op- are Chris-Marine, and we are proud of where we come from; but timize their ship CII ratings in the future. if you want to climb the career ladder super quick and you want to become a manager of 50 people within three years, this is not the place.”

The Path Ahead

Keeping Chris-Marine and its global operations on its steady But it can offer the allure of being a company with global growth pattern is a continual challenge, particularly when it operations, serving to keep one of the world’s key industrial comes to attracting and retaining personnel. Groth said the chal- sectors up and running.

At the helm of Chris-Marine since 2015, Groth has been on a mission to grow the business both organically and via ac- quisition. One of the key acquisitions happened just one year later, when in 2016 Chris-Marine acquired the monitoring products from German company LEMAG, now Chris-Marine

Germany. Chris-Marine also opened a new company in the

Florida, during the pandemic, as it has a strong customer base in the cruise lines. While the timing was unfortunate, the end result is a stronger Chris-Marine today, with a key new pres- ence located in Pompano Beach, FL, in close proximity to a strong customer base.

Globally Chris-Marine has eight companies, with its head- quarters in Sweden and a physical presence in China, Den- mark, Ecuador, Germany, India, Singapore and the U.S.

“[Before the pandemic] it was easier to convince a customer to pay for us ? ying from Copenhagen to Mozambique, or Siberia or Shanghai,” said Groth, which is a trend on the decline both from the monetary aspect but also the environmental implica- tions. “It’s more important [than ever] for us to be closer to our customers.”

Automatic honing of cylinder liner with digital data control 36 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • February 2023

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