Foreship Eyes US West Coast Cruise Business

Naval architecture, design and marine engineering specialist Foreship has transferred a senior member of its management team in Finland to head its Seattle operation, in a move aiming to expand West Coast activities and provide a new focus for its U.S. cruise ship customer base.

Marcus Höglund, Foreship Senior Vice President Engineering Services, will take up a position as Head of Operations North America, Foreship LLC with effect from October 8 to lead a team including existing staff in Seattle and in the company’s Fort Lauderdale, Fla. office.

Höglund has worked worldwide in the cruise sector throughout a 20-plus year career and was one of Foreship’s founders in 2002, playing a key role in some of the company’s highest profile new construction and conversion projects. In addition, as part of an earlier posting, he has direct experience of working in the U.S. on complex cruise ship engineering and refurbishment projects.

“We will support the requirements of a distinct set of owners by making our full range of services available to West Coast customers through a single point of contact based in the same time-zone,” said Foreship Managing Director Lauri Haavisto. “Of course, Marcus brings his comprehensive engineering experience to the post and particular insights on conversion and refurbishment projects. However, he also brings a complete knowledge of what Foreship can do for customers and the internal Foreship relationships to get things done ways that best suit customers with different degrees of in-house expertise.”

Höglund said he was looking forward to making Foreship’s full resources and services available to the West Coast’s sizeable cruise ship and ferry owning community, and to renewing and developing relationships with regional shipyards.

“Many know Foreship as the company with the most extensive reference list in cruise ship construction and conversion but are not so familiar with how that experience can be deployed to enhance design, project management, documentation and approvals processes,” he said. “They may also not be fully aware of the full scope of our expertise across the luxury and expedition cruise ship markets, or our work on vessel performance analysis, energy saving, fuel consumption optimization, ballast water system retrofits, or battery and fuel cell technologies.”

Haavisto added that Höglund’s posting also signaled Foreship’s continuing commitment to its U.S.-based operation, where the company seeks to develop young talent continuously, having hired and trained six U.S. graduates in naval architecture over the last two years alone.