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Ocean Craft Marine is a specialist manufacturer of rigid hull inflatable boats, customised for professional, military and leisure applications. The company recently launched a new initiative to revitalise the small boat industry. Roy Nouhra, CEO, founder and owner, and Jo Stapleton, Director of Sales and Marketing, Americas Region, explained the project to Phil Nicholls.
OCEAN CRAFT MARINE I PROFILE 2 Ocean Craft Marine
Mr Nouhra is taking the helm of AIME in the wake of his experience in the maritime industry. He began ASIS Boats in 2005, a world leader in manufacturing Rigid Hull Inflatable Boats (RHIBs) for the military, professional and leisure sectors, with boats sold in over 80 countries worldwide. Built in a 11,000 sqm facility in Jebel Ali, Dubai, ASIS rigid boats are offered with fibreglass or aluminium hulls, both available with amphibious options. Building on this success, Mr Nouhra began Ocean Craft Marine to focus on the North and South American markets.
Roy Nouhra, CEO, founder and owner, outlined the goal of the AIME project: “It’s a new approach to the industry, where we bring all the players together, to play in the sandbox, to develop and make the systems-talk together, so that we can give a solution to our customer that is technologically the most advanced one.”
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T he Ocean Craft Marine range mirrors ASIS Boats, offering rigid hulls in fibreglass or marine-grade aluminium and the hypalon sponsons can be fitted with either pneumatic or Hyb Foam® technology. Based in Maryland on the east coast of the United States, Ocean Craft Marine has a sales office in Annapolis and a factory on Kent Island, with a staff contingent of 160 employees between the two. The core of the Ocean Craft Marine portfolio is the profes sional boats range with outstanding performance built for no-failure-zone applications where reliability and consistency are critical requirements. A professional RHIB has a cargo capacity in excess of 1.5 ton s with the ability to operate continuously at speeds of 100km/h in 1m seas. The professional boats are used by many maritime end-users including fisheries, search & rescue, oil support, law enforcement, eco-tourism, science and research companies. Alongside the professional range, Ocean Craft Marine also produces military-grade RHIBs built for the demanding require ments of mission survivability and mission success. The Ocean Craft Marine hull design enables remarkable high-speed tac tical turns and excels in the roughest of sea conditions. The mil i tary range of RHIBs are suitable for conducting coastal patrols, harbour defence, vessel boarding search & seizure (VBSS) oper a tions or shoal-draft riverine missions.
The unique hull design at Ocean Craft Marine is part of the USP of its boats, featuring a unique reverse chine design enhancing the on-water experience. When a hull is viewed in cross-sec tion, the sharp angles of the chines are evident. Reverse chines angle downwards, parting the water to the side of the boat as well as downwards as the boat powers through the water.
Reverse chine design
AT the 9th Annual Maritime Security East & Response Boat Expo & Conference 2022 in Virginia Beach VA, Ocean Craft Marine announced the establishment of the Accelerator for Innovation in the Maritime Ecosystem (AIME).
“The reverse chine design started out as a way of making the boat faster,” Mr Nouhra explained. “And then we realised it wa s also making the ride drier because it was throwing the water downward. It was making the ride comfortable because it was creating an air cushion under the boat, reducing the shocks
This frustration was a driving force behind the creation of AIME. Ocean Craft Marine plans to invest over a quarter of a billion dollars through the next ten years to establish the industry’s first indepen dent maritime innovation laboratory.
The capabilities of the Ocean Marine Craft boats are a clear driver of sales, according to Mr Nouhra: “We always say ‘butts in boats are what sells boats’, because the minute a client rides in our boat they understand the difference between a Porsche and a Ford.”
OCEAN CRAFT MARINE I PROFILE 4 Ocean Craft Marine
A new approach The discrepancy between Ocean Craft Marine’s business model in relation to competition is a source of frustration for Mr Nouhra: “Today the market is not driven by innovation or providing solutions or even understanding what the customer really needs. Today, it’s only about building what the customer has been using for the last 15 or 20 years. Then everyone moans that the technology is obsolete and the boat building industry is where it was in World War Two.”
In addition to the unique features of its boats, Ocean Craft Marine also has an unusual sales process, delivering a complete package to the customer. “Our approach is a little bit different from the competition,” said Mr Nouhra, “Because before we deliver a boat, we actually visit the customer and see their operational environment. We hear what they need, figure out their unmet needs and then find them the right solution.”
for the operator, and it made the boat much more manoeuvrable at high speed.”
Once the bespoke boat is delivered to the client, this is not the end of Ocean Craft Marine’s involvement. Jo Stapleton, Director of Sales & Marketing, Americas Region, emphasised the full cycle of training supplied as part of the company’s after-sales package: “Most of the rescue organisations in the United States are volun teers, so the training has to be part of the package and focused on their specific operation. That’s why we do what we do; it all goes back to the safety of the crew and the safety of their mission.”
“Most of the rescue organisations in the United States are volunteers, so the training has to be part of the package and focused on their specific operation. That’s why we do what we do; it all goes back to the safety of the crew and the safety of their mission”
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Mr Stapleton offered an insight into the practical operation of AIME: “We’re working to advance communication and break down the barriers put in place. AIME is trying to find solutions to the end user’s problems as opposed to the spec writer’s problems.”
“We want to bring the industry – the ones who are willing to move forward in technology and adoption – together,” Mr Nouhra said. “And within the industry, they’re all jumping on board saying what we’re doing is pure genius. Because today, when you buy a car, all the systems talk together. When you buy a boat, none of these systems talk together, and it makes no sense.”
A testing future
The future of Ocean Craft Marine is more than just the AIME project, Mr Stapleton said: “For the future, we are looking at the recreational dive market as a potential growth place, because nobody makes a boat just for diving.” Additional expansion is expected in the oil and gas exploration sector, along with patrol boats for security companies. “As a company, our raison d’être is saving people’s lives,” Mr Nouhra concluded. “We are a company with a heart.” Ocean Craft Marine has a heart large enough to aim at saving the entire small boat industry. n
Ocean Craft Marine is positioned to benefit from its links with ASIS Boats to offer AIME the options of using the ASIS facility in Dubai as a testing ground for the project. The high heat, high humidity and high salinity found in Dubai make it a valuable test site. Likewise, ASIS’ links to New Zealand gives AIME another set of environmental features for trials. Just as AIME drives innovation in the wider industry, Ocean Craft Marine pushes forward its own sustainable development. Options on the boats include hybrid engines delivering a 20% reduction in fuel consumption, or even fully-electric power systems.
