Ulstein and Schottel have joined forces to take the next step in automation and digitalisation within marine operations with the takeover by Schottel of half of former Ulstein subsidiary, Ulstein Blue CTRL.
The firm will continue as an independent company under the new name Blue CTRL and both Ulstein and Schottel will own 50% of the shares in the company. Deliveries from Blue CTRL will be based on the unique X-CONNECT platform.
Stefan Kaul, president of industrial operations and chief executive of Schottel, said he was looking forward to starting a common development of intelligent systems for marine automation. "The Blue CTRL systems will not only enable us to offer our customers smarter and integrated controls for both newbuilding and existing vessels, but also provide a solid system for the offering of hybrid and electric solutions. Partnerships are essential in the current market," he said.
X-CONNECT is a universal digital platform for marine automation, control and monitoring. All functionality in the system supports the work philosophy of 'configure, plug and play'. Besides systems for newbuilding projects the new cooperation will also offer systems suitable for vessel upgrades.
“There are many similarities between our companies," said Tore Ulstein, deputy chief executive of Ulstein Group. "We are both privately owned. This implies the possibility of long-term strategic business concepts. We believe that we have products which are highly complementary," he added.
