Intergraph: ‘Smart operators looking to do things smarter, cheaper and better’

Huntsville: Cannier, older shipowners are gearing up for an upturn, reckons Gerhard Sallinger, president of American tech firm Intergraph Process, Power & Marine, in today’s Maritime CEO interview.

“Our observation,” says Sallinger, “is that those who have gone through previous down times are preparing themselves for the next upswing in activity, in order to be fiercely competitive. The smart operators are all looking to differentiate themselves by looking for new ways to do things smarter, cheaper and better.”

For the offshore sector, Sallinger says the depressed times are here to stay and offshore players are having to learn “to do more with less”.

“With oil prices expected to remain at the current rate of about $50 for the foreseeable future,” Sallinge says, “investment in higher cost production types – such as offshore and oil sands, for example – is unlikely to grow. Capital expenditure in the energy sector will be tight across the board, and companies are going to be forced to do more with less – especially the owner/operators. We have noticed a trend towards sweating their existing assets – driving more output at better quality – rather than building new facilities.”