This week at the International WorkBoat Show, Seattle-based naval architecture company Glosten was recognized for its design of the Seaway Trident tug, one of WorkBoat's 10 significant boats of 2023.
At the company’s WorkBoat show booth, CEO Morgan Fanberg spoke with WorkBoat.com. He discussed what separates Glosten from other naval architecture companies, and some of the projects they are working on at the moment.
Fanberg looks at the company as holding a unique space in the marine engineering industry because of its willingness and ability to take on projects covering a variety of areas, saying that they seek out what he terms as “unique and challenging” projects.
"We have a staff of engineers and designers that are really seeking out, 'What’s the next thing? What’s the cutting edge?'" Fanberg told WorkBoat.com. “A lot of our projects start with a blank sheet of paper. We’re not repeating a lot of different works. We don’t have a niche. We really like to seek out clients that have a more challenging problem that hasn’t been solved before, and that’s where we really shine.”
He said that this attitude gains them favor in the industry, but it also keeps the in-house staff engaged with interesting projects.
“Engineers come to Glosten for these unique and challenging problems,” Fanberg said. “That doesn’t mean we don’t start with the principles and more rudimentary work. It all starts there, but what’s engaging and exciting is the opportunity to be on a project that hasn’t been solved before.”
As far as those projects go, Fanberg wasn’t able to speak about many of the vessel designs the firm has in progress at the moment, but did mention a few. That, of course, includes the aforementioned Seaway Trident, of which they are very proud, as well as the David Packard, a research vessel being built at the Freire Shipyard in Vigo, Spain, and a new pilot boat for the San Francisco Bar Pilots, which will be a hybrid vessel.
