Read the Latest Edition of Maritime Executive, Featuring Peter Laborde
The Maritime Executive Magazine's September-October edition is distributed now, featuring a cover interview with Peter Laborde, the founder and CEO of Laborde Marine. To get a subscription, click here: https://www.maritime-executive.com/subscribe. An introduction to this great edition follows below.
The Laborde name is synonymous with the Gulf of Mexico offshore workboat business - and for good reason. John Laborde and his two brothers basically invented it when they co-founded Tidewater in 1955 and launched the world's first purpose-built offshore supply vessel, Ebb Tide, the following year. Fast-forward 40 years to 1995, when John's son Peter Laborde - after spending 15 years at his father's company - decided to start his own business, entirely on his own. Thus was born Laborde Marine, the subject of this edition's cover story and another tale of offshore success.
Things are at last looking up in the Oil Patch, or at least that's what Senior Editor Jack O'Connell argues in his Upgrades & Downgrades feature, 'Workboats Rising.' Jack points to the huge profits being racked up by the oil majors, among other things, and expects them to trickle down to the workboat companies in due course.
And as Allen Brooks notes in his Eye on Energy feature, 'Red Flag,' the shortcomings of renewable energy are increasing the need for traditional fossil fuels like oil and gas well into the future - and that too will boost the fortunes of oilfield service companies. Jack also found time to interview Jim Baker, founder of the eponymously-named Baker Marine Solutions, for his Executive Achievement column. It's a great story with Baker having worked his way up the hawsepipe and starting his own company, which today is a leading provider of marine assurance, warranty, logistical, and engineering and design services on the Gulf Coast.
In our annual Global Salvage Review, frequent contributor Chad Fuhrmann says the best salvors do more than just respond to crises - they anticipate and help prevent them. Columnist Sean Holt warns against a different kind of danger - ransomware - in his entertaining and informative 'Cyber Pirates,' and Sean Hogue (who works for the aforementioned Jim Baker) is at his witty best In 'No Tapping Required,' an update on the latest advances in condition monitoring. Another must-read.
View From the EU columnist and maritime lawyer Erik Kravets always has a different take on things, and in 'What, Don't You Trust Me' he casts a critical eye on the antitrust exemption for European shipping, which he says may soon be coming to an end - but not for the reasons you think. Rounding out this edition are News Editor Paul Benecki's 'Innovation at Work,' demonstrating how digitalization is transforming the weather deck - the world of cranes and lifts - to a safer and more efficient space, and Tom Peters' 'Land Grab,' describing how ports are very much like real estate developers in their quest for additional acreage. And don't forget to spend some time with 'From the Bridge,' which contains some handy factoids from this edition's main articles.
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