WorkBoat Watch

Building a workboat? It’s not just price

At today’s WorkBoat Executive Summit, the kickoff to the International WorkBoat Show which opens tomorrow here in New Orleans, panelists discussed what they look for when financing a vessel.

“I like to see audited financials,” said Edgar Santacruz, senior vice president, commercial lending, Iberia Bank. “The track record of the company, history of performance … a lot of companies look good when things are going well, you like to see how companies perform when things are tough.”

Santacruz, a speaker on the morning vessel construction and repair panel, added that a long-term contract in hand is “a great thing to have. You have a predictable source of repayment for that asset.”

Terry Frickey, vice president and COO of Conrad Industries, said, “financing these days is getting pretty creative.”

Kevin Tarleton, CFO, Associated Terminals, said when he’s evaluating a potential builder there are a number of factors he eyes, including “price, delivery, reputation and proximity. It seems like every time we are building something we wish we had it six months ago.”

Michael Mandelbaum delivered the keynote address in the afternoon. Mandelbaum, the author of 13 books and professor of American Foreign Policy at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, discussed his 2011 book he co-authored with columnist Thomas L. Friedman, “That Used to Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back.”

Mandelbaum said that our future depends on how we deal with the major challenges facing America and American business. Considered one of our leading foreign policy thinkers, Mandelbaum offered a wake-up call and a call to action as he analyzed globalization, the revolution in information technology, the nation’s chronic deficits, and its pattern of energy consumption.

Tomorrow at the WorkBoat Show, shipyard industry veteran John Dane III will deliver the keynote address at the Seventh Annual Shipyard Day. Dane, president and CEO of Gulfport, Miss.-based TY Offshore and Trinity Yachts, will discuss the current state of the boatbuilding industry and its prospects for the future. Among his topics will be the Gulf offshore market and TY’s current activity that includes the construction of four 302'x64' dual-fuel supply vessels for Harvey Gulf International and 10 30,000-bbl., 297'6"x54'x12" fuel barges for FMT.

There’s still time to register for the show. You can register here: https://www.xpressreg.net/register/iwsh122/start.asp?sc=105415 

For complete information, go to: www.workboatshow.com.