I arranged a meeting with Mattias to talk to him about the projects he’s been working on and to follow up on the story of the Polarcus Naila one year after its twin fin propulsion retrofit (see the previous page). As I sat on the ferry and crossed the narrow strait that separates the Swedish mainland from the small island of Hönö where Caterpillar Propulsion has its headquarters, I contemplated the inter - view ahead. It would take an hour, hour and a half tops. I was looking for information, a few quotes for backup, maybe a small insight or two. Over the next four hours (including lunch), I got much more than that.
NEW PARTNERSHIPS
We sat in Mattias’ office that looks out over the Swedish west coast archipelago, the dark, leaden sky matching the gray sea and granite islands. But inside the atmosphere was warm and bright. I asked about the Naila project, with Mattias responding enthusiastically. Throughout it seemed that we kept coming back to the same theme: the collaboration and commitment shared between Mattias and his colleagues at Caterpillar Propulsion, the customer Peter Zickerman at Polarcus, the architects Bjørn Moving (Odense Maritime Technology) and Bjørnar Helgesen (Scandinavian Marine Group), not to mention the Damen shipyard in Amsterdam and a long list of suppliers who needed to be on board and, most importantly, on time. As an engineer and marine architect, Mattias is proud of the technology side but I got the feeling he was even more proud of the new partnership and way of working that let them overcome a brand new challenge with unexpected success.
