MR: This is Greg Trauthwein. I’m the editor and associate publisher of Maritime Reporter and Engineering News. We’re here at the SMM with Wayne Jones of MAN Diesel & Turbo, and Mr. Jones, I want to thank you for joining us here.

Wayne Jones: Sure, you’re more than welcome. It’s nice to be here.

MR: Mr. Jones, just to kick it off, if you could just share with us your title and your area of responsibility.

Wayne Jones: Sure. I’m Chief Sales Officer for MAN Diesel & Turbo SE, so that covers new equipment sales and after sales right across our product range, so that’s two-stroke engines, four-stroke engines, turbo chargers, gas turbines, compressors, fully PC power plants. But of course, in relation to SMM, the most important thing is the engines that we supply now in our marine industry.

MR: Well, again, you’re a very large and very well known manufacturer in this industry, and as you know, this industry is undergoing challenging times, to put it mildly. Can you give me your overall assessment of the current market conditions, and just point out, if you will, where you see challenges, where you see opportunities?

Wayne Jones: Sure. It’s no secret the market is tough at the moment. Absolutely, no doubt. You know, when you see ships scrapped between 12 and 14 years, then you really think, “Wow, this is a market under great pressure.” So, yeah, no doubt, we also feel the pinch, but my view is you get dealt the cards you’ve got and you have to play those cards. So it’s about, first of all, keeping our name at the forefront of the industry. We’ve been in this industry for many, many years, and it’s important that we continue in the industry and look at ways where we can improve, where we can take the opportunity in the tough times to prepare for when the markets come back. I mean, markets go up, they go down, and you have to deal with both those scenarios. It’s not all bleak. For example, we see quite a strong area in the cruise business. The cruise business globally seems to be fairly buoyant. Also, the naval industry — that also seems to be quite good. And, of course, we have the necessary products that can support both those industries as well as the merchant marine, when that comes back. Yeah, I think the whole industry is feeling the pinch at the moment.

MR: Seeing as that we’re based in New York, and seeing as tough we’re here, we’re obviously international yet, if we could just turn our attention to North America for a moment. I’ve covered it before and I know well your service network in North America, but if you could just give us an overview of the breadth and the current condition of the service market in North America, and what it means to the company, overall.

Wayne Jones: Sure. North America is a very important market for us, absolutely no doubt. We’re based in Fort Lauderdale, as one of our facilities to support the cruise industry which is a great success story. We’re up on the West Coast in Seattle, looking at all kinds of industries — the fishing industry as well as the container industry — coming into the U.S., also, in L.A., and then also in Houston. And of course, Houston... if we think we’ve got problems in the marine industry, then there’s also an oil price issues, as well, which you know about. Yeah, I mean, generally, all our facilities are fairly well-loaded, actually, at the moment, so the business is okay. Could be better. But certainly, in areas like Fort Lauderdale, we actually see an overload situation because we have strong long-term maintenance agreements with a lot of the big players there. And that’s keeping our coverage strong.

MR: Very good. Again, I’d like to thank you for joining us. I know it’s a very busy show and we really appreciate it.

Wayne Jones: Sure. Thanks. Excellent.