Earlier this month I had the privilege of attending my first WorkBoat show in New Orleans. This may come as a surprise to many, as I’ve been in the maritime industry since 2009 first as a cadet during my time at the US Merchant Marine Academy, then as a deck officer for Polar Tankers, Keystone and Liberty Maritime, and most recently a commercial manager with Seabulk Tankers and Seaward Services. The WorkBoat Show’s dates for the last several years have always conflicted with an annual event I help put on for Warrior Sailing; so when I noticed the show was a few weeks earlier this year, I jumped at the opportunity to attend.
It couldn’t have been a better experience. While I always expected the show to be a great opportunity to checkout the latest tech and connect with vendors, I was most surprised by how the event drew me into the community I’ve been apart of for the last 15 years.
The number of friends and relationships built over the years was astounding; frankly I had never just stopped to take it all in. Classmates, shipmates, former colleagues, my peers at other organizations – all friends – gathered in one place: Bouncing around between events, running into folks at the exhibition hall, and meeting folks for the first time in person. All these things made me really appreciate the industry we all know and love. They also helped me recognize how far my career has come over the years.
My goals walking the hall were to check out the latest Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV) players and educate myself on how they all stack up against one another in their respective domains. One of my biggest takeaways here was the diversity of offerings. It shouldn’t be surprising as mariners that we get a bit defensive when outsiders simply refer to something as a ‘ship’ rather than a tanker, or more specifically an MR clean product tanker. In the USV world, we need to start thinking about things the same way. The MARTAC Mantas T12 is quick and nimble, but not well suited for extended pelagic deployments. Likewise the Chance MC29 is well suited for endurance missions with large power demands, however it won’t be setting any records for getting on station to affect deterrence. Simply referring to USV’s as such does a disservice to our understanding of how they fit into the maritime world of the future.
I also couldn’t help but notice what I perceived to be a saturation in the inspection class Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) market. Through our experience at Sansu Marine we’ve primarily been exposed to Deep Trekker products for underwater inspection and light recovery/salvage work. Their products are well suited for littoral environments, with 1,000ft depth ratings, multi-function grabber arms, lighting and cameras. I was surprised to see so many other vendors I hadn’t heard of with equipment largely serving the same market. It got me wondering about their key areas of differentiation and how much marketing effects their positioning to consumers. I remember when VideoRay ROVs were on the shelf at West Marine as the latest gadget for recreational boaters; now you’re reading about them being bought out by Blue Halo, a cyber and intelligence defense contractor.
I look forward to making it back next year to see everyone (even though they did shift the dates back to December) and continue to develop Sansu Marine as a leading provider of specialized maritime solutions, with a focus on commercial operations support, vessel sourcing and procurement, USV deployment and recovery, and traditional technical and crew management.
Learn more about Sansu Marine and how we help our clients navigate the complexities of the maritime industry by reaching out via email to info@sansumarine.com or phone at (833) 428-7427.