Ulstein International was established in 2007 and has headed the project groups for acquisitions. Tore Ulstein is the managing director of Ulstein International. His team is made up of staff from Ulstein International and other key personnel in the group, who work together for realizing the strategies of globalisation and growth.
The Ulstein Group has just concluded the acquisition of design company Sea of Solutions. What is the purpose of this acquisition?
“Oil prices are high and oil exploration and production activities will keep forging ahead. Many of the oil reserves are situated in hard-to-reach areas, and the costs of such projects will be higher,” says Tore Ulstein.
“The Ulstein Group wants to become an attractive point of contact for major oil companies and offshore contractors in their quest for new and alternative solutions to these challenges. With Sea of Solutions the Ulstein Group has positioned itself with a larger portfolio of products and services and greater expertise in project development. Sea of Solutions has already demonstrated its ability to develop advanced solutions,” he says.
Sea of Solutions develops projects in the exploration, construction and production market, as well as the maritime transport market. Besides designing newbuildings,
the company is actively involved in upgrade and conversion projects for existing vessels.
“The acquisition of Sea of Solutions is important for the future development of the Ulstein Group, and Sea of Solutions will benefit from Ulstein’s reputation, experience and expertise,” explains Ulstein.
“Another very important reason for the acquisition is participation in the Dutch maritime cluster, which in many ways complements the Norwegian cluster, particularly in the area of heavy lifting and short sea shipping. As innovators, both companies have spent time learning to think outside the box with regard to design and development. Sea of Solutions has built up a solid reputation in the heavy offshore segment,” he says.
Why the focus on strengthening the group within ship design?
“One of the key aims of strengthening ship design is to get closer to the customer (shipowner) and the customer’s customer (e.g. contractors and oil companies) and to develop ship solutions for the future. This enables us to maintain our edge and ensures that we develop solutions of the future. Within offshore, this will include a wide range of utility vessels for floating production such as FPSOs, crane, pipe-laying, platform supply and anchor-handling vessels,” says Ulstein.
“The other segment of our further enhancement in ship design is short-sea shipping. Up until now, the Ulstein Group has had relatively little focus on cost-effective and competitive short sea shipping. With greater focus on logistics, we can better plan transport systems, modularised and standardised ship design and building processes. The establishment of design company Ulstein Es-Cad in Turkey is a part of the Ulstein Group’s efforts to develop vessel families in additional areas within short sea shipping, such as container ships, small tankers, chemical tankers, dry bulk vessels and roroships,” he says.
How can we strengthen the other business areas of the Ulstein Group?
“In order to increase the business volume in existing and new market segments, the sale and design of package solutions is an important area. A critical factor for realizing this endeavour is to have more engineering resources. Ulstein Engineering will be in charge of building up a robust international engineering network of existing and new companies. The recently acquired Marine & Mechanical Technology is a part of this environment,” he says.
“We will continue our development work within electro and control systems in order to develop and produce new electro products in the market. We will also seek to find ways of better utilizing expertise and experience through inter-company teamwork,” says Ulstein.
When will the downturn come?
“The offshore sector has already slowed down slightly. However, the level of activity will remain high the next three to four years. We aim to keep getting stronger in order to be better equipped and have more legs to stand on regardless of market fluctuations.
In your opinion, what is the Ulstein Group’s main strength?
“Our strength is the people in our organisation, good reputation and good products, combined with the ability to provide new products and services that our customers need in order to be considered world-class in their fields,” Ulstein concludes.
Fact box:
New companies in the Ulstein Group
Sea of Solutions
• Ulstein holds 56 % of the shares
• Established in 2001
• Based in Vlaardingen, Netherlands
• Twelve employees, and contracts 50–70 persons annually
• Designs large floating production ships (FPSOs), crane ships and pipelaying vessels
• Owns 42% of IMT Marine Consultants
– a British ship design company with focus on offshore support vessels
• As of March 2008, Sea of Solutions is a part of the Ulstein Group under the name Ulstein Sea of Solutions
Marine & Mechanical Technology
• The company is fully owned by the Ulstein Group
• Established in 2006
• Twenty engineers on staff (electro/hull)
• Owns shares in an engineering environment in Croatia
• The company is a part of the newly established Ulstein Engineering
