MN100: Robert Allan Ltd.

Prominent on this year's prestigous MarineNews MN100 list is Robert Allan Ltd.  Robert Allan Ltd. is a recognized world leader in innovative Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering with a particular focus on harbor and seagoing tugs, shallow draft towing vessels and fireboats for major world ports. Robert Allan Ltd. has won many awards for their design work from a variety of publications and other organizations.

The Company:
Robert Allan Ltd. is Canada’s most senior consulting Naval Architectural firm, established in Vancouver, B.C. in 1930. The company has earned an international reputation for innovative, successful designs of a wide range of cost-efficient vessels for service in the marine transportation industry. Their experience includes designs for hundreds of vessels of almost all types, from small coastal and inshore fishing boats to ocean-going vessels of various designs. Robert Allan provides independent professional marine consulting and design services to a worldwide client base, supported by the latest in computer-aided design technology. Robert Allan Ltd. is a world leader in the design of High performance terminal escort tugs.

Ship Design:

With a legacy of almost nine decades of design experience, there are very few vessel types which the firm has not already developed in some form and which exist in files at least as a basic reference. This legacy includes a large number of shallow draft designs for northern Canadian and South American Rivers. The scope of services offered ranges from concept studies through complete design documentation for contract bidding and Classification Society approval, to production working drawings and procurement support. Use of the latest CAD technologies expedites and improves the accuracy of every aspect of their in-house ship design process.

One of the firm’s most exciting recent projects includes a modern fleet of pushboats and barges for Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) that have started operating in Brazil, all to customized designs from Robert Allan Ltd. of Vancouver, Canada. The vessels will transport bulk grain products on the Amazon River system. This shallow-draft fleet includes one RApide 2600-Z3 class pusher tug, three RApide 2000-Z2 class port-assist pusher tugs, and 64 jumbo hopper barges. www.ral.ca

Robert Allan Ltd.

230-1639 West 2nd Avenue
Vancouver, British Columbia
Canada V6J 1H3
Telephone: 604-736-9466
CEO/President: Mike Fitzpatrick
Number of Employees: 80

This article first appeared in the AUGUST 2019 MN100 print edition of MarineNews magazine.