NAPA upbeat on market future, benefitting from ClassNK takeover

Speaking to Seatrade Global on the Posidonia show floor,  Esa Henttinen, executive vice president for operations at NAPA was confident that the acquisition is and will continue to be good for NAPA.

“We have good signs from the market that it has been taken positively We are no longer the small software house, but have broader shoulders and our credibility is on a different level.”

K Line have trialled ClassNK-NAPA Green, an eco efficiency and operational optimisation solution, since March last year, and recently announced a 3.9% fuel saving through speed profiling and limited trim optimisation on an 8,000+ teu vessel.

K Line have also had the system installed on a car carrier and Henttinen expects the system to be adopted by more of their vessels.Roro operator Bore also achieved a 6% fuel saving aboard one of their vessels during sea trials of the same product and have since expanded the system across five vessels.

Henttinen sees the positive results of sea trials as a sign of a changing market: “For the market we are in, we see it starting to become a mature industry. Whereas before it was earlier adopters taking up trials and tests, the market is now ready [for widespread adoption].”

ClassNK will be reinvesting all of NAPA’s profits back into the company, a move that Henttinen believes has been received well by employees as a sign of investment and commitment. The company will also be expanding, and are currently in the process of hiring more staff.