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Offshore Annual and reinvestment into the business to keep a competitive advantage. Another challenge is maintaining a steady backlog of work. This challenge is similar to the age-old question of whether the chicken or the egg came first. One could argue that if you take care of challenge #1 which is people and challenge #2 which is remain competi- tive, then you will always have a steady backlog of work. On the other hand, one could argue that a steady backlog of work will bring about a situation where you can afford to reinvest in the busi- ness, use technology, and create an envi- ronment that is conducive to retaining and motivating a workforce. Regardless, we remain committed to focusing our efforts on our greatest assets, which are our people. We will invest in our busi- ness to remain competitive and keep a steady backlog of work. Q: If you could unilaterally change one policy/market condition, what would it be? A: There are several that come to mind, but if we could open up drilling in the Florida Gulf of Mexico fields and possi- bly create better market conditions in the overall Gulf of Mexico energy mar- kets, it would have an immediate posi- tive impact on all aspects of our busi- ness. Q: In relation to new Bollinger OSV designs, what is meant by "less is more"? (See story page 12) A: The "less is more" all really started in 1996 with the Bollinger 145 Utility/Supply design and building pro- grams. The 145 design, which is under 100 GRT, allowed for a minimal crew to operate a vessel that provide very effi- cient operating parameters and greater cargo capacities, with a very reasonable price, which usually came from a larger hull design and a larger price tag. We focused on operating efficiencies and capacities in a smaller foot print, mainly for Liquid mud. fuel and with the OSV's bulk product capacity. In meeting with Oil Company representatives and vessel operators Bollinger focused on meeting their demands and keeping the greater capacities in an efficient package that met their budgets. Over the past five years this same con- cept evolved to our 166 ft. OSV and then to our 220 Class OSV. Our original 220 class hull, first built for MNM Boats measured 207 ft x 53 ft x 19 ft, with con- ventional propulsion and DP I. This hull design provided capacities seen only in the larger 220-ft to 230 ft hulls at that time. When operators such as Tidewater April 2004 and Seacor took a look at the design they liked what they saw and they placed orders to build different propulsion ver- sions with Bollinger, but the foot print with the greater capacities remained the same. Q: In your opinion, what have been the biggest changes in servicing off- shore customer's needs? A: I believe the biggest change in serv- icing our customer needs has come in the repair markets. In the past, most all repair work was done on a T&M or a cost plus type arrangement. As our cus- tomers have consolidated, become more sophisticated, and demanded fixed price bids for repair work, we have made upgrades to our program management and our infrastructure to be able to han- dle this type of fixed price contracting. The Preferred Connection Marlow Ropes, an approved ISO 9001 y, is recognised as one of the world leaders in synthetic rope design and production. Extensive research into id constructions has resulted in products
