2023 Conference Speakers
12:30 - 1:30 Vessel Design Trends for Lower Emission / Emission-Free Vessels
Presenter: Rob Crutcher, Allswater Marine Consultants
Rob is the CEO of Allswater, a commercially-focused naval architecture and design company in Eastern Canada with offices in Bedford, St. John’s, and San Sebastián, Spain. He started his career working in boatyards in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia before founding Allswater in 2003. With over 20 years of experience in marine consulting, Rob and his team do marine engineering and project management across all marine industries in ship design, conversions, construction, vessel operations, and more. Rob previously had a long-term embedded role as Fleet Projects Director with a major international client, where he was the go-to person for management of all new vessel construction and conversions.
In his work with Allswater, Rob works directly with vessel owners, boatbuilders and shipbuilders in the commercial marine industry. The company is involved with a wide range of projects including newbuild vessel designs, vessel modifications, marine technology projects and project management. Some of this work has won them international awards and success for their innovative designs.
Since 2022, Rob and his team at Allswater have been the lead consultants for a research project commissioned by Oceans North about electrification and decarbonization in Nova Scotia's lobster fleet. He believes small vessels have a key role to play in meeting provincial and federal emissions targets, and he and his company are working on what that means for boat designs today and tomorrow.
2:00 - 3:00 Using Graphite Coatings to Improve Vessel Sustainability
Presenter: Ryan Ingham, GIT Sustainable Coatings
Ryan is the Energy & Performance Lead at GIT Sustainable Coatings. Ryan holds a Master of Applied Science degree in Mechanical Engineering, specializing in the research field of life cycle assessment with a specific focus on biocide-free hard foul release coatings. Ryan’s work centers around investigating the roughness and hydrodynamic characteristics of 'in-service' hull antifouling coatings. These coatings play a crucial role in preventing fouling on ship hulls while minimizing skin friction drag, and Ryan is investigating how different coating types and conditions influence the power requirements, fuel consumption, operational costs, and greenhouse gas emissions of ships. Ryan has studied the complex flow phenomena over coated hull and propeller surfaces, with the goal of minimizing GHG emissions and enhancing the efficiency of marine transportation. By examining the entire life cycle of these coatings, Ryan has evaluated sustainable solutions that minimize the environmental impact on our oceans and promote a circular economy within the maritime industry.
GIT Sustainable Coatings is propelling our global fleets towards a green future by promoting the adoption of environmentally friendly coating solutions.
3:30 - 4:30 - Vessel Electrification Panel
Presenters:
Trevor Hennigar, Rimot
Trevor is the COO of Rimot. Trevor has over a decade of technical and executive leadership experience including holding critical roles in the development, engineering, procurement, construction and management of utility scale wind power projects. Among these projects was the 102MW South Canoe Wind Farm, the largest in Nova Scotia.
Subsequently, Trevor was the President of an asset management company that held controlling and non-controlling positions in a variety of private and publicly traded enterprises that spanned multiple industries. He provided strategic direction and oversight of mergers and acquisitions, resourcing of critical roles, corporate finance, capital allocation and business planning.
Since joining Rimot in 2020, Trevor has been instrumental in the development of BlueGrid, a suite of novel vessel-to-grid business and software service offerings that unlock the full value of batteries onboard marine vessels for the benefit of vessel owners and electricity grids alike. He also plays a critical role in transformational projects that leverage BlueGrid to accelerate the transition of both electricity grids and vessel fleets to zero emissions.
Trevor holds a mechanical engineering degree from Dalhousie University and an MBA from Queen’s University. He has been an avid participant in the Creative Destruction Lab-Atlantic and has a life-long passion for pushing the boundaries of what is possible in the pursuit of ‘electrify everything’.
Dr. Lukas Swan, Dalhousie's Renewable Energy Storage Lab
Lukas Swan is Professor of Mechanical Engineering and the Principal Investigator at the Dalhousie University Renewable Energy Storage Laboratory. He has 20 years’ experience with battery energy storage for electric vehicles and renewable energy. He focuses his R&D on unique, elegant, and robust solutions to transition from fossil fuels to efficient electrification.
Lukas has a broad range of experimental and modeling experience with major battery chemistries and energy storage technologies. He has developed, tested, and evaluated an enormous variety of battery packs ranging from hand tools to freight trains to grid storage to remote islands. He is also a member of CSA and UL committees that have created and published international standards for energy storage systems. He has worked throughout the world as engineering consultant to a wide variety of companies ranging from startups to multinationals and has also repeatedly served as expert witness to the International Court of Arbitration.
Lukas received his PhD and Master’s from Dalhousie University and his Bachelor’s from California Polytechnic San Luis Obispo.
Dr. Sue Molloy, Glas Ocean Electric Inc.
Dr. Sue Molloy holds a PhD in Naval Architectural and Ocean Engineering (Memorial University) and is the CEO of Glas Ocean Electric (GOE). GOE is a Nova Scotia-based company electrifying workboats and using a proprietary AI-driven marine data system to reduce GHG emissions.
Sue and her team won the Lieutenant Governor’s award for Excellence in Engineering. In 2022, Sue was elected as a fellow to the Canadian Academy of Engineering.
Her understanding of the importance of leadership on boards and committees as a tool to advocate for action on the topics of sustainability and equity has led Sue to join several boards. She is a member of the Council of Canadian Academies, a former elected member of Engineers Nova Scotia and recent co-chair for Canada’s Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Discovery Grant program.
Her professional service work includes being an active reviewer for the US Department of Energy and national Canadian Government programs, serving as the Canadian Chair of ISO TC 8, Ships and Marine Technology and as the international convenor for the IEC committee focused on river turbine performance.
Prior to GOE, Sue was president and general manager of Black Rock Tidal Power (a subsidiary of Schottel GmbH). Sue is an occasional lecturer on sustainable energy and related marine topics at Dalhousie University in Halifax.
Panel Moderator: Jan Fullerton, NSBA Executive Director