14 APRIL 2018 • FOGHORN FOGHORNFOCUS: SHIPBUILDING That’s why Ferry operators rely on Bay Ship and Yacht to keep their boats running smoothly and on time. We are a full ser- vice shipyard whose mission is to guarantee absolute cus- tomer satisfaction...while also reducing Bay Area traffic. 5 1 0 . 3 3 7 . 9 1 2 2 www.bay -ship.com A l a m e d a , C A OVER 8,000 PEOPLE RELY ON BAY FERRIES EVERY DAY that we’ve been constructing for decades. As for changes coming that we need to be prepared for, Tier 4 is the biggest change that will affect us all. It will be a challenge, but I’m certain we’re ready for it. Yes, there will be some expenses needed to run cleaner vessels, but we’ve already done our first Tier 4 af- tertreatment vessel. As an industry, we will all have to deal with this change and I’m confident that we will. Gary Lipely, Director of Marketing and Sales, Conrad Shipyard Morgan City, LA Conrad Shipyard has been away from PVA for a number of years. What brought you back to PVA now? What’s happening at this time that Conrad has decided to rejoin PVA? We never really went away from the building of passenger vessels. In the past few years we’ve built and delivered vessels for North Carolina and Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Before that we did some work for vessels in Texas and Alaska. Of course, we want to do more. There’s a renewed interest in ferry boats and passenger vessels at Conrad. One interesting project that we’re working on is the renovation of a casino vessel to a museum, restaurant and floating jazz club in New Orleans, appropriately renamed the Riverboat Louis Armstrong. The project should be completed in plenty of time for the PVAAnnual Convention at MariTrends 2019 in New Orleans, so PVA members should plan to take a look at this newly redone riverboat. Art Parker, Business Development Manager, Vigor, Seattle, WA Vigor is a juggernaut in vessel construction. From your perspective, is this time a boom or a bust for the building of passenger vessels? From Vigor’s perspective it is somewhere in between. The tourism lines (sightseeing, whale watching, eco- tours, etc.) have been strong market segments for new construction for some time. This has been fueled by the retirement of baby boomers and we expect it to remain strong. The growth segment at the moment is with municipal transportation ferries either because of aging fleets or the increas- ing popularity on ferry transit with commuters.  Where do you see the two industries (shipbuilders and passenger vessel operations) going forward?  We believe we will see increasing collaboration between builders and operators as operators seek expertise in helping them navigate the com- plexities of hybrid and zero emissions ferries that are reshaping marine pro-