At the International WorkBoat Show earlier this month, I took time to chat with Brandon Richards, General Manager, Kocsis Technologies, about their business and outlook for the future.
Kocsis was showcasing its hydraulic starting systems at the show.
“The systems that we sell to the marine market are used primarily in applications where they can’t have a spark,” said Richards. “So, the hydraulic starting systems used on petroleum barges, lifeboat applications, and genset packages. It depends on whether there is already air on board—if there’s air, then they use a pneumatic starter, but if they don’t have auxiliary power, then a hydraulic starter becomes the starter of choice.”
Richards noted that the oil they have to use in these systems must be biodegradable, so if there is a spill that happens on the deck of the barge, and it falls in the water, no one gets in trouble.
“And our starting systems, specifically the accumulators, are ASME-approved, so they’re recognized by the U.S. Coast Guard as a Coast Guard pressure vessel. A lot of boat builders, lifeboat builders, barge packagers, they’ll buy our system because it has the certifications required,” he said.
Also of interest is that the systems incorporate the ability to manually recharge. There’s a hand pump on the system allows a user to manually recharge the accumulator for subsequent starting attempts. Typically, when the engine is running, a PTO-driven pump recharges the accumulator. But if a crew has exhausted all that energy, and they are traveling down the river with no power, they can get to the hand pump and recharge the energy to the system to get a starting attempt, referred to as a black start.
Richards said that this year has been a challenging one, and with good reason.
“If you think of our section of the marine industry that we service—petroleum barges, lifeboats that are located on offshore platforms—that’s all tied to the oil industry,” he said. “Although they’re still moving product back and forth, the problem is when the product doesn’t cost as much as it used to, they have less money to spend, so they’re not upgrading as fast—so they use equipment for years and years. So we see refurbishment work, but not necessarily any new systems.”
He said that Kocsis also does a bit of work in the construction and ag markets, but the primarily business comes from marine, oil and gas, and mining.
“Moving into 2017, regulations are helping us, particularly with upgrading equipment to new standards. If their equipment hasn’t in a long time, it needs to be, and that’s where we get those new system orders,” Richards added. “Specifically, on the accumulator side … there’s a five-year recertification program that’s in place, and so, if the equipment hasn’t been serviced in five years, it’s mandatory by the government rules to be serviced. And so we’re seeing that work.”
There aren’t a lot of bright sport currently, although he said that at the end of the year, they are seeing some people spend money because there’s some left over in their budgets. But new projects are rarer. Still, he sees the long view.
“I believe a lot of companies are in cost-cutting mode. We also call on a lot of companies that are still laying people off. So, they’re finding it hard to upgrade systems when they’re downgrading their departments, so it’s hard to sell in this environment, Richards said. “But this is a long haul and a long sales cycle, so we’re laying the foundation for business in the future.”
Filed Under: Mobile Hydraulic Tips