Marsun Shipyard

YOUR VESSELS

Established in 1980, Marsun Shipyard started out making small speed boats and passenger ferries in Thailand. But such humble beginnings did not last. These days the company makes naval patrol ships, yachts, and commercial vessels for the marine or offshore industries, as well as offering a repair service. According to Mr Wutthiwat Atthaseriruj, Vice President of Sales and Business Development, this is only the beginning. He explained to Hannah Barnett how Marsun is now hoping to take on the world.

Located near Bangkok, at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River i n Samut Prakan province, lies the Marsun Shipyard. The site covers an area of up to 50,000 square metres including the building and assembly workshop. It is capable of outfitting and launching vessels up to 80 metres in length.

After more than 40 years in the business, Marsun boasts an extensive roster of past vessels delivered, numbering over 330. The company has also provided consultation on design, construction, and repair to meet wide-ranging requirements for both domestic and international customers. It has produced more than 80 vessels for the Royal Thai Navy alone. The shipyard has also branched into the commercial sector, providing vessels into operation for renowned oil and gas companies including Chevron Thailand, PTT Exploration and Production, and Petronas.

Marsun has earned its reputation as a high-quality and wellproven shipbuilder. The company emphasises on-time delivery. Its vessels must meet strict stipulations and achieve a performance evaluation in both pre-delivery tests and during trial periods. Customer satisfaction is everything.

As Mr Wutthiwat, Vice President of Sales and Business Development, explained: “we are experts in building highperformance, high-speed, advanced vessels in aluminium and steel, for both governmental and commercial work.”

Design masters

The quality of the in-house engineering at Marsun is one of the key elements that sets it apart, according to Mr Wutthiwat. With over 40 experienced in-house designers specialising in different fields, the company can easily customise a vessel to clients’ requirements and provide a bespoke service. This allows Marsun to offer services from shipbuilding to ship interior design, for both the military and commercial offshore industries.

“Many of our designers are marine engineers. So, it’s well within our ability to do the design ourselves. We have all our knowledge on vessel design, and we can customise and tailor-make it for the client’s requirements,” said Mr Wutthiwat.

Marsun is keen to invest in the latest technology to increase the capabilities of engineering, manufacturing, and quality assurance among its workforce. The company says it encourages staff to study and research ship designs by themselves to maintain the highest efficiency and to ensure Marsun remains one step ahead of any competitors.

Mr Wutthiwat showed how this flexible approach can be beneficial: “Most of the military patrol boats that we built are our own design, but we have good connections and are open to work with any reputable designers worldwide for any vessel design for commercial workboat projects.”

The company will work from an external designer’s blueprint at first. “From that basic design until class approval,” he continued; “then we use our authenticity and credibility to do the detailed design, together with the outside designer.” This allows for what Mr Wutthiwat described as a ‘seamless and efficient’ design phase throughout the construction period.

Advanced electric designs

It is not only old, failsafe, ship designs the company works with. One of the places these advanced design capabilities are being put to the test is with an ongoing project to build the very first High-Speed Craft Passenger Trimaran Crew Transfer Vessel (CTV) in Asia, for an offshore wind farm in Taiwan. The Trimaran CTV was partnered with WIND Naval Architects and One2Three Architects. “This is an advanced, really complicated and sophisticated design ,” said Mr Wutthiwat. “Likewise, to other advanced designs, we are willing to take on the challenge to build any innovative vessels.”

The company has an eye on the cutting edge of the market. As with many industries, that looks to be in the sphere of sustainable, renewable, electric vehicles and, in this case, vessels. “At the moment we are enabling innovation,” explained Mr Wutthiwat. “We are working on the development of new technology like unmanned surface vehicles for offshore oil, gas and survey applications. We are looking towards R&D in that area.”

Unmanned Service Vehicles (USV) are boats or ships that operate on the surface of the water without a crew. As Mr Wutthiwat said, Marsun has been investing in the IP of USV “for several years now.”

He expanded further on this burgeoning market: “Right now we're talking about drones and USV. So that's one thing that’s growing, and another is people are trying to develop the best solution for EV (Electric Vehicles). People are developing a lot of electric vessels for example, for offshore wind farms. A lot of developers give

subsidies to the ship owners, who provide a green and decarbonised net-zero type of vessel, that is the trend at the moment. We want to serve the customer in that sector and stay on top of the game.”

International aspirations

Marsun is clearly a future-facing company. Not only in its adoption of modern technology, but in its own endeavours too. The shipyard has hopes of expanding its products to service customer needs worldwide from Asia Pacific, Middle East and Europe to West Africa. Mr Wutthiwat considered this sort of move would make sense with the company’s established goal to move to achieve 30% of its sales from the domestic market and 70% from the international. It is a goal Mr Wutthiwat is staying focused on: “That is our future.”

There is no doubt it is an exciting time at Marsun Shipyard. Mr Wutthiwat spoke to Inside Marine as the company prepared to launch itself on the Thai stock market, hoping to gain momentum and investment from going public.

“We want to tell the world that we are here,” Mr Wutthiwat reflected. “We have a proven track record as a shipyard, especially in terms of high-performance, high-speed vessels, with a customercentric mindset. And right now, we are ready to service the commercial offshore industry. So to any shipbuilder, any operator, any player that's looking for a trustworthy, high-quality partner in Asia, to deliver the vessel anywhere around the world; we are the perfect partner, and we are ready to take on any challenge.”

Having worked in the offshore and marine industry internationally for his entire career, it is patently clear that Mr Wutthiwat is passionate about the venture. The Vice President of Sales and Business Development stated he has confidence in the company’s manufacturing capabilities and is passionate about helping Marsun Shipyard fulfil its potential in the world arena. “It is my calling,” he said.